2023-05-01 22:16:26
Nurse Bailey McBreen, 24, was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, also called colorectal cancer (considered advanced) after starting to burp up to 10 times a day.
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Burps started in 2021, but she didn’t pay much attention to the symptom. In February of last year, she also started having acid reflux.
“The first sign that something was wrong – although I didn’t know it at the time – was when I started burping excessively. I burped 5-10 times a day. This was not normal for me. In fact, I’ve rarely burped before, and it is. that’s why I noticed how weird it was,” Bailey told British news portal NeedToKnow.
Doctors thought, however, that the reflux was a symptom of anxiety. A short time later, she discovered that it wasn’t just that.
In January 2023, Bailey began to suffer from “excruciating” stomach pains, had difficulty going to the bathroom and had a poor appetite. As a nurse, she thought she just had a bowel obstruction.
“Never in a million years did I think that whatever vague symptoms I had were actually stage three colon cancer,” she said.
For Bailey, receiving the diagnosis was “an out-of-body experience. I felt like I was sitting in the corner of the room watching myself. Time seemed to slow down and my heartbeat accelerated. I was in complete shock.”
The first words spoken by the nurse were “I’m not ready to die”.
After the scare, Bailey then linked the belching to the disease. Her tumor was transverse, that is, it was located at a higher level of the colon, which crosses the abdominal cavity – it is just below other organs. Because it was the longest, most mobile part of the colon, the tumor was causing an intestinal blockage (in the large intestine).
She also believes that the cancer was responsible for the onset of her GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease),
“GERD was a symptom, in my case, because my tumor was slowly causing a complete bowel obstruction. As a result, my food was not digesting completely and was getting ‘stuck’ above my tumor, causing my reflux and belching,” explains the nurse.
She adds that “excessive belching is not the classic sign of colon cancer, but my oncologist told me it was probably the start of my symptoms.”
The difficulty in recognizing the symptoms was also possibly because Bailey led a “very healthy” lifestyle, in which she worked out 5 to 6 times a week – she had been doing this routine for 1 year and 2 months.
“In the 10 months leading up to my diagnosis, I was actually healthier than I’ve ever been,” says Bailey.
In January, the young woman had surgery to remove the tumor and will now undergo chemotherapy sessions until August.
As he battles the disease, he plans to share his story in a variety of ways to raise awareness of unusual symptoms that can be a “warning sign” for colon cancer.
“Anything that is new to you, even if it’s considered normal, needs to be addressed. I didn’t think anything about my burping because it was a ‘normal’ thing. It’s important to listen to your body,” warns the young woman.
He adds, “My diagnosis has impacted my life in every possible way you can imagine. I don’t know if I will ever fully process being diagnosed with such an aggressive, late-stage cancer. But I refuse to let it go.” define myself. I’m doing everything I humanly can to fight this disease.”
It is noteworthy that colon cancer is the third most common in men, behind prostate cancer and non-melanoma skin cancer, and also the third most common in women, after breast cancer, according to Inca (National Institute of Cancer). The forecast is for 41,000 new cases in 2023 in Brazil alone.
There are four stages of the disease, namely:
I – tumors affecting the mucosa and submucosa;
II – the tumor reached the membrane that covers the intestine;
III – the tumor reached the lymph nodes around the intestine;
IV – tumor cells migrated to other organs.
The main symptoms of the condition are bleeding in the stool, change in bowel habit – it becomes more stuck or loose – and change in the shape of the stool (they become more pasty or smaller).
What you can do to reduce your risk of colorectal cancer
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