Five years after being diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer at age 28, Joe Faratzis is reflecting on the six red flags that signaled he was battling a serious illness.
“I put up with these symptoms for months before finally getting a colonoscopy,” Faratzis admitted on TikTok. “Don’t risk your life waiting to see a doctor. Early screening can save you and your family.”
The US Preventive Services Task Force updated its colorectal cancer screening guidelines in 2021 to lower the recommended age for starting screening from 50 to 45 for average-risk adults.
A steady increase in colorectal cancer rates among adults under 50 prompted the change. Experts urge you to see a health care provider right away, regardless of your age, if you have any symptoms of colon cancer.
Faratzis told Self magazine that he began experiencing symptoms in 2019. The longtime TMZ producer was experiencing mild abdominal pain when he bent over and shared his concerns with his primary care physician, who ordered a CT scan. Faratzis confessed that he blew the test, thinking it was unnecessary.
Six months later, he noticed blood on his toilet paper – but again, he dismissed it as nothing big, assuming it was caused by hemorrhoids.
Faratzis says now that he thought he was “unbreakable,” but admits he also didn’t want to do a difficult digital rectal exam.
Eventually, things got so bad that he could no longer get rid of his symptoms.
“The big catalyst that motivated me to take my symptoms seriously happened a few months later. I was sitting on the couch and I passed the gas, I looked down and I saw blood,” Faratzis, now 34, explained. “I went to the toilet and there was about half a cup of blood in the toilet. “It wasn’t painful, but I was like, ‘Holy f–k — there’s definitely a problem here.'”
Colorectal cancer develops in the tissues of the colon or rectum – both are part of the large intestine in the digestive system.
The disease is caused by changes in DNA, which can be inherited from parents or acquired later in life by eating a low-fiber, high-fat Western diet, adopting a sedentary lifestyle, drinking too much alcohol and/or smoking.
It is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the US, with the American Cancer Society estimating that approximately 53,000 Americans will die of colorectal cancer this year.
Early detection can improve the chances of survival. Treatment often includes surgery to remove the tumor, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.
Here are six symptoms he wishes he hadn’t ignored:
- Constant sweating and night sweats
- Pain in the lower right abdomen
- More frequent trips to the bathroom
- Slight abdominal cramps when bending over
- Constipation and cramps
- Blood in the stool
“[One thing] what I should have paid more attention to is just noticing that I was going to the bathroom more often than I should, maybe several times a day,” he said on TikTok.
Faratzis said he underwent oral and intravenous chemotherapy and procedures to remove the section of colon containing the cancer and burn and frostbite lesions that developed in his lungs and liver.
“If I had gotten the CT scan in 2019, when I had my earliest symptoms of colorectal cancer — I might not have ended up where I am now,” Faratzis lamented to Self in March.
However, with chemo and other treatments, Faratzi’s health improved, and in 2023 he received his first clear CT scans again. In April, he celebrated a year of clear scans.
His most recent was last week. He noted: “I think I’ll forget about this for another three months” – until his next scan.
Faratzis has taken to social media to warn others of the signs they may be missing.
“It turns out that having a functioning rectum is really, really important to your quality of life,” he said.
#Stage #colon #cancer #patient #reveals #symptoms
Image Source : nypost.com