If you think you’re too young to get colorectal cancer, consider this: About 20,000 people in the U.S. under the age of 50 will be diagnosed this year. And an estimated
3,750 young adults will die
.
“Colorectal cancer is rapidly shifting to diagnosis at a younger age,” conclude the authors of an American Cancer Society
report released this month
. Since the mid-’90s, cases among people under 50 have increased by about 50%. It’s one of the
deadliest cancers
in this age group.
“The moment that I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer scared me out of my mind,” says Shawna Brown, a union organizer in Stockton. She was in her late 40s at the time and was completely shocked. “I had no signs or symptoms,” she says.
Brown had received a screening test kit in the mail from her health care provider, but she didn’t think it was urgent and frankly it grossed her out. The test required her to take a stool sample and send it back: “It didn’t seem sanitary,” Brown recalls thinking. “So I ignored the test.” At the time, many people were unaware that in 2018 the American Cancer Society had
lowered the recommended age
to begin screening from 50 down to 45 years old.
Shawna Brown of Stockton was shocked to get a colorectal cancer diagnosis when she was in her late 40s.
Kaiser Permanente/Shawna Brown)
Eventually, during a routine…
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