I was 41 years old, 2 years sober, running and working out daily, and training for a half marathon. I was in the best shape of my adult life, and I noticed I was having the feeling of needing to go to the bathroom a lot, with no movements. One night on one of these regular bathroom visits, I noticed a bit of blood in the toilet. This went on for months before I reached out to my doctor who told me it was probably due to a food allergy, maybe to try to give up gluten.

I tried to cut out gluten for a few weeks with no success. I emailed my doctor again and asked if I should have a colonoscopy to be sure there wasn’t something really wrong, she ordered the test and they found a mass covering 80% of my rectum, diagnosing me with stage III colorectal cancer.

After 5 rounds of radiation, 9 rounds of chemo, surgery and insertion of ostomy bag for 4 months I was cancer free for 3 months. I went in for my first CT scan since ending chemo and they found a small mass in my liver that turned out to be cancerous as well. I underwent a partial hepatectomy followed by another 12 rounds of chemo.

Currently I still have my colostomy bag since they found a fistula had developed between my colon/vaginal wall due to the radiation to the area. I recently underwent another surgery to repair the hole by using a muscle in my leg (gracilis muscle) to patch the hole. I will hopefully be able to have my ileostomy reversal surgery in 6 months. I am currently NED since my last scan 2 months ago!