I got stage 3 colorectal cancer in my 30s I didnt want to be a hypochondriac about this symptom but Im glad I pushed

Brooks Bell’s gut told her something was wrong — but it took two doctors misdiagnosing her symptoms before she got the answer that would change her life forever.“I wanted a colonoscopy right from the start,” Bell told The Post.“But I had this voice in my head saying, ‘Don’t be dramatic.

Don’t be a hypochondriac.Don’t be that girl who runs straight to the scary thing.’”The “scary thing” turned out to be her reality: stage 3 colon cancer, and time was critical.

Had her tumor spread just a millimeter deeper into her colon wall during the time she was seeking a third opinion, her chances of survival could have plummeted by nearly 20%.Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States.The number of early-onset cases is on the rise, with diagnoses in people under 50 expected to double by 2030.Bell’s experience underscores a harsh reality: many of these cases aren’t correctly identified at first.

According to the Colon Cancer Alliance, 82% of young colon cancer survivors were initially misdiagnosed and 67% consulted at least two doctors before getting the right diagnosis.In 2019, the data analytics company Bell founded was flourishing, and the job came with plenty of travel.

The then-38-year-old thought she was “pretty healthy,” despite the stresses of being a CEO.“I hadn’t eaten red meat consistently since my teenage years, I was exercising regularly and eating salads for lunch most days,” she said.“I’m not overweight, I’ve never smoked, but it was very stressful running a company with 50 employees.”Then, while traveling for business in November 2018, Bell noticed blood in her stool.

She quickly googled potential causes and called her primary care doctor, who assured her it was probably just internal hemorrhoids.“The doctor basically told me not to do anything about it,” Bell recalled. Relieved, she carried on with her busy life in Raleigh, North Carolina.Later that mont...