Doctors in America are baffled by an epidemic of colon and rectal cancers in young adults under the age of 45.
Patients in their 20s and 30s are misdiagnosed because young adults have traditionally been at low risk for colorectal cancer.
Daniel Lucas, who was 27 at the time, saw blood in his stool in 2017. But because of his age his cancer diagnosis was delayed for two years as doctors thought he had colitis, Crohn’s disease, and appendicitis. At one point, his appendix was surgically removed unnecessarily.
Lucas (right) was in Wyoming with his best friend, makeup artist Jeffree Star (left), when the car Star was driving hit a patch of black ice and rolled over. Star and Lucas were hospitalized in a Wyoming hospital. Doctors there told him they found a mass in his stomach.
Lucas’ colon cancer was stage 3, meaning it had spread to his stomach and liver. He died at age 35 in 2022.
Doctors and researchers are puzzled by the explosion of colon and rectal cancers in young people in recent years. In the 1990s, just 11 percent of colorectal cancer cases were diagnosed among young people.
Now cases of colorectal cancer in young people have more than tripled.
The American Cancer Society issued new guidelines dropping the recommended age for a colonoscopy from age 50 to age 45.
Signs and Symptoms of Colorectal Cancer:
If you notice these signs and symptoms, contact your doctor or a health care professional.
