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'If we can get colon cancer, anyone can': These three patients were 45 and in the 'best shape of their lives' when they were diagnosed with 'death sentence' disease - now they're issuing a plea to young people
Three early-onset cancer survivors are pleading with the public to not 'overlook the symptoms' of colon cancer - after being diagnosed with terminal tumors in the prime of their lives.
Becky Krichevsky, Bill Phillips, and Helen Shipstad were all given shocking news they had colon or stomach cancer between 2009 and 2023 - at a time before scientists were aware that the disease was surging in younger age groups.
Now, having all been declared cancer free, they are urging people to be hyper aware of the early signs, not to take no for an answer, and know that late-stage colon cancer 'is no longer a death sentence.'
Ms Krichevsky, now 60, was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer and given 20 months to live. Ten years after completing treatment, she is still cancer free
Mr Phillips underwent radiation and chemotherapy and was given a temporary ileostomy bag. He is now cancer free but receives regular checkups
When Becky Krichevsky went to her doctor in 2008 severe stomach pain, the doctor told her to 'take a Prozac and go to therapy.'
Ms Krichevsky, 45 at the time, was in the middle of a bitter custody battle over her two teenage daughters. This led a physician assistant to believe that she was just depressed, rather than agreeing to run tests.
'I was under an insurmountable amount of stress,' the now 60-year-old, who is based in Texas, told DailyMail.com.
In the months after, friends commented that she looked pale and had lost heaps of weight. While shopping with her daughter, she suffered 'pitch black' diarrhea.
Still, doctors chocked it up to IBS and refused to order a colonoscopy, claiming she was 'too young.'
She pressed on, even completing a triathalon and signing up for her company's charity run in June 2009. 'I was in the best shape of my life,' she said.
But when she tried to give blood after the run, screening revealed her hemocrit, or the percentage of oxygen-carrying red blood cells in her blood, was dangerously low.
Ms Krichevsky called her father, a retired doctor, who instantly panicked. 'You're internally bleeding,' he said.
A colonscopy and endoscopy finally revealed stage four colon cancer that had spread to her ovaries, gallbladder, liver, and six lymph nodes, including one running across her heart.
Doctors gave her 20 months to live. 'Forty-five years old, they've just cut out my guts, and now I'm being told I'm terminal,' Ms Krichevsky said.
'The shock was just unbelievable.'
The above graph shows colon cancer cases among under 50s by year. There is a drop in 2020 because the Covid pandemic led to fewer people coming forward for screenings
Becky Krichevsky was 45 when she experienced excruciating abdominal pain and black diarrhea. Doctors at first dismissed her symptoms as depression and told her to 'take a Prozac'
Bill Phillips, meanwhile, noticed blood on his toilet paper in 2022, at a point when doctors started to sound the alarm about more and more young Americans being diagnosed with colon cancer.
The 45-year-old, a US navy veteran working at the Pentagon, was just about to retire from the military. He told DailyMail.com that he was in prime shape and had no family history of gastrointestinal issues.
Despite the grim symptom, it took five months for his military hospital in DC to get him in for a colonscopy.
In March 2023, the father-of-three woke up during that procedure, just as doctors at Walter Reed zeroed in on a six-centimeter tumor, about the length of a thumb, located just between his colon and rectum.
'I heard someone say, "We've got to get the doctor in here,"' Mr Phillips, now 46, told DailyMail.com.
About two weeks later, he was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer that had spread to his lymph nodes.
'It didn't cause me a lot of alarm at first,' Mr Phillips said. 'It was like a ton of bricks. It was a big shock. Cancer doesn't really run in my family, so it's not something we were looking for. It was huge, huge surprise.'
'I did not have these emergent symptoms or anything that really caused a lot of alarm.'
Doctors estimated that his tumor could have even doubled in size during the five months he was waiting for a colonoscopy. 'That sticks out,' he said. 'It's kind of scary.'
Rates of GI cancers rose most sharply in the youngest age group, followed by the 20-29 year old cohort. There were also more cases of GI cancers among older people, though in that case it is still considered early-onset cancer
Bill Phillips, a Navy veteran based at the Pentagon, noticed blood on his toilet paper last year. It took five months for him to get a colonoscopy to confirm stage three colon cancer
Helen Shipstad was also 45 in February 2021 when started experiencing a 'burning' pain around her stomach and intense heartburn.
As the symptoms became more constant, Ms Shipstad, who is originally from England and now lives in southern California, sought help from a gastroenterologist.
The doctor referred her for an endoscopy, where a team took a biopsy from her stomach. A CT scan later revealed that the fitness buff had stage two cancer at the bottom of her stomach.
'I was in the best shape of my life, had no history of stomach cancer, very little history in my family of cancer. Full stop,' Ms Shipstad, now 48, told DailyMail.com.
'I never would have thought something like that could happen to me.'
Their stories come as colorectal cancer is on the rise among young Americans, with cases skyrocketing even among children.
Earlier this month, researchers at the University of Missouri - Kansas City found that since 2000, rates of colorectal cancer grew by 500 percent among children ages 10 to 14 and 333 percent in teens ages 15 to 19.
'Colorectal cancer is no longer considered just a disease of the elderly population,' said lead researcher Dr Islam Mohamed, an internal medicine resident physician at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Helen Shipstad was diagnosed with stage two stomach cancer in 2021, despite being in the 'best shape' of her life. She believes it was caused by a prior H pylori infection
Cancers of the colon and rectum are the third most common type in the US and the third leading cause of death in both men and women.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates about 153,000 colorectal cancer cases were detected in 2023, including 19,500 among those under 50 years old. Some 53,000 people are expected to die from the disease this year.
Mr Phillips is unsure what may have caused his cancer, though he did search for possibilities. 'That's the part I'm still trying to figure out,' he said.
This included joining a DNA study at Walter Reed to see if his time working on or around aircrafts may have raised his risk. Though the study found that he 'had no predetermined indicators,' there is still a possibility that his job could have led to cancer.
'I basically sit on a pod underneath the wings that emits electromagnetic radiation,' he said.
A Pentagon study from last year, for example, found that airmen had higher rates of some cancers, such as melanoma, thyroid, and prostate cancer, than other military personnel. However, the same report found lower rates of colon cancer in this group.
Mr Phillips also noted that while he keeps a mostly balanced diet and exercises regularly, he could have been exposed to more processed food and alcohol during his deployments.
A study from researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, for example, suggested that red meat and sugar could be linked to a higher likelihood of colon cancer.
'We work hard, play hard, in the Navy,' he said. 'Any of those factors could have contributed to what I had.'
'I fully expect to go well beyond the five years and live a normal life, just with a slightly different plumbing configuration that I was then what I was born with,' Mr Phillips said
Mr Phillips is now urging other young Americans to not ignore symptoms and get checked out immediately
For Ms Shipstad, her diagnosis could be linked to an infection she suffered nearly a decade ago.
Nine years prior, she had been diagnosed with Helibacter pylori (H pylori), a bacteria that invades the stomach and small intestine.
In most patients, it never causes symptoms, though it can lead to stomach pain, nausea, frequent burping, and bloating.
'The doctor I went to see, I remember him saying "It's good that we got this because H pylori has been linked to stomach cancer,"' Ms Shipstad said.
According to MD Anderson Cancer Center, H pylori is responsible for most stomach cancers, and one in three out of every 100 H pylori patients will be diagnosed with stomach cancer.
Ms Shipstad started six rounds of chemotherapy before having half of her stomach surgically removed.
Though she seemed to respond well to treatment, scans the following year revealed cancer cells in the remaining portion of her stomach. Doctors then performed a gastrectomy, or the removal of the entire stomach.
Her cancer is now in remission, and she is urging young people to look out for the disease.
'If it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody,' she said. 'I was in good health, I ate well, I was into fitness.'
'The earlier you can get diagnosed, the better chance you have of living because these cancers can be very sneaky. Cancer is the worst scenario, but you can treat if it you catch it early.'
'If I'd have left it another year, I might not be here.'
For Mr Phillips, who is cancer free after radiation, chemoterapy, and having two-thirds of his rectum and 19 lymph nodes removed, he wants men and military personnel to get help for any symptoms immediately rather than feeling embarrassed.
'I fully expect to go well beyond the five years and live a normal life, just with a slightly different plumbing configuration that I was then what I was born with,' he said.
'But don't ignore the symptoms,' he said. 'The most important part is your health. Don't overlook the symptoms or barriers to getting checked out.'
And after 68 rounds of chemotherapy and three surgeries, Ms Krichevsky is cancer free, insisting that young people don't take no for an answer.
'Stage four is no longer a death sentence,' she said. 'I'm not supposed to be here. I was supposed to die, but I'm still here.'