Exclusive | I was healthy before my colon cancer diagnosis at 35 the symptom I wish had been taken seriously

Rory Kennedy, 36, has no family history of cancer.He’s not overweight, and he has always maintained a healthy lifestyle — clean diet, regular exercise, no smoking or drinking. So when he was diagnosed with stage 3C colon cancer last September, it was a shock, to say the least. “I don’t have a single checkmark of colon cancer,” he told The Post.

“No root cause.They said just something happened in your body that something mutated.”It all began in 2022, when Kennedy experienced a week of black, tarry stools — which can be caused by anything ranging from gastrointestinal bleeding to eating too many blueberries. He went to an urgent care clinic, where he was told it was probably “just an ulcer” or some bacteria, given some drugs, and sent home. “I took [the drugs] and the symptoms seemed to alleviate over the next month,” he said.

“So I didn’t think anything of it.Went on with my life.

Everything was fine.”Flash forward to June 2024, when Kennedy saw “one single bloody stool” — one of the most prominent signs of colon cancer — and decided to see a gastroenterologist, especially since he had had intermittent stomach pains — which is another common sign. “He told me right away that if I had black, tarry stools back then, I should have gotten a colonoscopy and endoscopy immediately,” Kennedy said. Though colorectal cancer can sometimes be asymptomatic, Dr.Kiranmayi Muddasani, a staff surgeon in the Department of Colorectal Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center, told the Post that a change in bowel habits or caliber of stool — as well as rectal bleeding or weight loss — are among the most common symptoms.“That’s why a colonoscopy is the best way to detect and treat it earlier,” he said.Once they performed those procedures on Kennedy, he heard a sentence no one ever wants to hear. “That’s when I was hit with the brick of news: ‘You have a mass in your colon,’” he said.

“I was surprised.I had no idea...