A 36-year-old woman was told she was 'too young' to have colon cancer. Months later, she was diagnosed with stage 4.

"Right before Amber Kissell had her second child, she noticed some troubling changes. At 35, she'd alternate between constipation and diarrhea - symptoms she chalked up to pregnancy. After giving birth, she found blood in her stool, one of the most common signs of colon cancer. She immediately started booking doctors' appointments. A primary care physician told her she just had a fissure, even though she'd lost 10 pounds with no explanation."

"Then she saw a colorectal surgeon, who gave her a similar answer after a physical exam: she had hemorrhoids. "In the back of my head, I was thinking 'something isn't right,'" Kissell, 45, told Business Insider. She went back to him two more times, explicitly asking if she might have colon cancer. He reassured her that she was 'too young' and that her insurance wouldn't cover a colonoscopy because she was under the recommended screening age (then 50, now 45)."

"Shortly after, Kissell started feeling lightheaded every time she stood up. "I started to wake up in the morning and feel like I had the flu," she said. She relied more on her husband to take care of their 1-year-old because she would wake up exhausted. After a particularly bad dizzy spell, Kissell was on her way to the ER when she called her colorectal doctor. He advised her to go home, wait a few days, and come in for a colonoscopy instead."

Amber Kissell experienced alternating constipation and diarrhea during pregnancy and, after giving birth, discovered blood in her stool. Initial medical evaluations diagnosed a fissure and hemorrhoids despite an unexplained 10-pound weight loss and persistent symptoms. A colorectal surgeon reassured her she was too young for colorectal cancer and cited insurance screening age limits. Symptoms progressed to lightheadedness, exhaustion, and a severe dizzy spell that led toward emergency care. Diagnostic testing revealed stage 4 colon cancer with metastases to the liver and lymph nodes. Chemotherapy subsequently shrank tumors and produced remission that has lasted nearly a decade.

Read at Business Insider