when Diana Zepeda of Washington, D.C., started experiencing stomach and digestive troubles, she assumed she had food poisoning.
“I thought to myself — ‘I guess I shouldn’t eat sushi that was sitting in someone’s automobile for 40 mins,” she said. “My symptoms didn’t get better — they got worse.”
“I became nauseous and had severe abdominal cramps and nothing came out. I couldn’t stop vomiting.” That’s when she knew something was incorrect and that she needed to visit a doctor. There, she received surprising information. She had stage four colon cancer at just 34 years old.
“i was really in disbelief. I don’t have a family history,” Zepeda said. “After the preliminary shock and disbelief, my first thoughts had been, ‘What did I do incorrect to get this?’ due to the fact I think all and sundry thinks of colon cancer as an antique human beings’s ailment. “I concept, ‘was it all of the microwaved Pop-cakes I ate in college? Or all the microwave Lean Cuisines? Like, what did I do to cause this?'”
docs are baffled as well because more young humans are suffering from the illness than ever before.
“it's far unbelievable. We don’t know why this is happening,” said Michael Sapienza, chief executive officer of the Colorectal cancer Alliance.
“it is the unknown that is bugging us. we are studying more and more how a younger version is different. This younger crowd is … very lively with right ingesting, exact fitness habits. there's something going on that we don’t yet understand,” added Dr. John Marshall, director of the Ruesch center for cure of Gastrointestinal Cancers at the Georgetown Lombardi comprehensive cancer center.
since her diagnosis, Zepeda has undergone six months of chemotherapy. She recently finished her final treatment, and even though she has an upcoming surgery and won’t officially be in remission for another few years, she has desire for her future. She also hopes that by sharing her story, she’ll encourage others to get checked regularly by their docs.
“i have a chance to be completely cured,” she said. “there is nothing lucky about getting cancer, but I still feel like i'm incredibly lucky. stop self-diagnosing and please visit the doctor.”
