In 2018, my Crohn’s disease had a major flare-up, and I had a structure in my colon. I had emergency surgery to remove the structure and was given a colostomy bag to aid in recovery. One year later, I went in to have that procedure reversed and during that surgery they found a tumor in my colon. They proceeded to remove the tumor and 47 lymph nodes in the area, four of which also had signs of cancer. Thus, giving me the stage III diagnosis. That was followed up with 12 rounds of treatments that included three types of chemotherapy. One of the chemo treatments was administered through a slow-drip bag into a port in my chest over the course of three days. It was a long, hard battle, but I’m alive today thanks to my team of doctors and nurses at Moffitt Cancer.

I would advocate any adults age 45 and over to get screened.

Bowel irregularities Skin rashes (skin toxicity, chemo rash) Chemo brain Chemotherapy Colostomy Distress or mental health issues/illness Fatigue Hand-foot syndrome Mouth sores Neuropathy Permenant Ostomy Reversal surgery Side Effects Surgery

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