"I'll never know for sure why I got colon cancer at age 35. Sure, I can look back now and point to things that weren't perfect. Work stress, ultra-processed foods, having two young kids, I wasn't taking care of my body in exactly the way that I used to - especially after weathering several snowboarding injuries, I kind of slowed down on my fitness. But I don't feel like it's healthy to "would have, could have, should have" about cancer or blame yourself."
"There weren't really any obvious signs that I was sick. Just one day, I woke up and it hit me. A searing pain in the middle of my stomach as soon as I opened my eyes. I literally could not get out of bed. The pain was so bad, I couldn't get my body upright. It felt like someone was ringing out a rag inside of me."
"I'd later learn this was because - unbeknownst to anyone - food was getting stuck behind the tumor in my colon. Unable to move through my system properly, waste was building up and wreaking havoc. I just assumed I ate something bad the day before. I wondered what it could have been."
Mark Seguin received a surprise colon cancer diagnosis at age 35, five years before sharing his story. He experienced no obvious symptoms initially, but woke one morning with severe stomach pain caused by food becoming stuck behind a tumor in his colon. The pain subsided, but recurred over several months with varying intensity. Seguin initially attributed the episodes to food poisoning and did not suspect cancer. He sought emergency medical attention after experiencing pain on his right side, fearing appendicitis. Seguin reflects that while he can identify lifestyle factors like work stress and reduced fitness, he avoids self-blame, noting that cancer affects people regardless of health status or diet quality.
#colon-cancer-diagnosis #early-onset-cancer #symptom-recognition #cancer-survivor-story #abdominal-pain
Read at Business Insider
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