It was June 2020, and Stefania Frost’s household had simply gotten collectively at a barbecue for the primary time because the pandemic began. However the subsequent day, Frost, a second-grade instructor in Waltham, Massachusetts, seen a ache in her proper aspect. “I assumed it was one thing that I ate or some form of abdomen bug going round,” Frost, 40, tells TODAY.com. A few week later, nonetheless, the ache hadn’t gone away, so she made a physician’s appointment.Considering the ache could possibly be an indication of appendicitis, Frost’s physician despatched her for imaging, which revealed irritation round her colon. Frost was placed on a spherical of antibiotics however her physician additionally despatched her for a colonoscopy. The ache subsided over the following few days, however Frost nonetheless went for the colonoscopy the following week — and obtained stunning outcomes.”Afterward, the physician talked to me,” she recollects. “I am simply waking up, they usually stated there was a tumor within the colon.” Resulting from protocols in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Frost wasn’t capable of have her husband or her daughter within the room. “It was actually arduous and really complicated,” she says. Second-grade instructor Stefania Frost was identified with stage 3 colon most cancers at 36.Courtesy Stefania FrostFrost was identified with stage 3 colon most cancers, which had unfold to her lymph nodes.The prognosis got here as a complete shock to Frost, who was 36 on the time and solely had one noticeable symptom: belly ache. She did not have another gastrointestinal points or blood in her stool, she says. Her grandfather handed away as a consequence of colon most cancers and her mother and uncle obtained additional screening because of this, “however they by no means stated something concerning the grandkids,” she explains. (Genetic testing later revealed her most cancers was not hereditary.)In mid-July, simply weeks after the barbecue, Frost underwent surgical procedure to take away the tumor in her colon and likewise had 49 lymph nodes eliminated.It is sadly “extra frequent than not” for youthful sufferers to be identified with later-stage colorectal most cancers, Dr. Aparna Parikh, Frost’s oncologist and medical director of the Middle for Younger Grownup Colorectal Most cancers at Mass Normal Brigham, tells TODAY.com.Researchers are nonetheless working to know the current rise in colorectal cancers in folks below 50 — and why they’re so typically identified with extra superior ailments, Parikh says. For some, “there is a huge diagnostic delay,” she explains. It is commonplace for sufferers to imagine or be informed by their major care physician that they are coping with one thing like hemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome, Parikh says, even once they have signs that would counsel colorectal most cancers.In accordance with Parikh, doable indicators of colon most cancers you should not ignore embody:Stomach ache that does not go awayUnexplained weight lossBlood within the rectum or stoolUnexplained anemiaTreatment went nicely, however negative effects and fertility struggles nonetheless weighed on Frost.After the prognosis, Frost would want to endure chemotherapy. “However the issue was I wished to get pregnant once more,” she says. On the time, her pals had been having their second children or pregnant, and Frost was prepared for a second little one. So, earlier than she began chemotherapy, Frost went via an egg retrieval cycle within the hopes of getting embryos. “I solely acquired one (embryo),” she says, however the aim of getting pregnant once more helped get her via an intensive three months of chemotherapy. Frost along with her husband and 5-year-old daughter. Courtesy Stefania FrostShe felt chilly and her arms had been numb as a consequence of negative effects, and could not drink something chilly. Her infusions occurred within the fall of 2020, early within the COVID-19 pandemic, so “I needed to be on my own, in order that was arduous too,” Frost says. Due to the surgical procedure, “I could not carry my daughter,” Frost recollects, so her mom would take her for the day. “It was arduous to not have that relationship.”As arduous because the remedy was, “I simply actually wished to get pregnant,” Frost recollects. “My motivation was like, ‘I’ll get via this, I’ll do it after which I’ll get pregnant.'”Her chemotherapy resulted in November and, when January rolled round, Frost and her husband determined to attempt implanting the embryo. Really helpful”It did not take,” Frost says, chalking it as much as a diminished ovarian reserve, that means fewer wholesome eggs within the ovaries, and the results of chemotherapy.There are a number of elements at play on the subject of fertility and most cancers remedy, Dr. Parikh says, together with a affected person’s baseline ovarian reserve and the precise remedies they want. Radiation, which is often wanted to deal with rectal most cancers, she says, can scale back fertility, in addition to some sorts of chemotherapy. “We counsel those that the colon most cancers chemotherapy that we use, particularly if we use a extra aggressive one, might trigger infertility,” Parikh explains, “nevertheless it’s not a assure.”Frost ended up going via about two years of infertility remedy. “I went via a few cycles of IVF (and) IUI, and I by no means acquired pregnant,” Frost says. “That was actually arduous for me.””Encompass your self with positivity.”At this time, Frost is sort of 4 years out from her colon most cancers prognosis and has her blood examined usually to observe for the opportunity of a recurrence as a part of a scientific trial. To this point, she’s stayed cancer-free, however she’s additionally navigating a posh set of feelings.”I am so completely happy that I am good, I am recovering and I am cancer-free,” she says. “However I’ve to take care of not having one other child.” Including to that’s the inevitable anxiousness about the opportunity of her most cancers coming again. “Each time I’ve a scan it is scary,” Frost says.When issues are robust or when she’s reminded of her fertility struggles, Frost says she focuses on positivity and recommends others “encompass your self with optimistic folks.” “I acquired via chemo simply being like, ‘I can do that. This isn’t going to take over my life,'” she says. On the identical time, “It is okay to cry,” she says, “and there are days once I nonetheless cry.” Frost additionally encourages her pals to take their well being severely. “I am attempting to inform different folks, particularly my pals, ‘Go get colonoscopies whenever you’re 45,'” she says. Or in the event that they really feel regarding signs, she tells them to go to the physician shortly quite than ready it out.Parikh agrees: “Take heed to your physique. And advocate for your self for those who’re unsure.”