It was June 2020, and Stefania Frost’s household had simply gotten collectively at a barbecue for the primary time for the reason that pandemic began. However the subsequent day, Frost, a second-grade trainer 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 health care provider’s appointment.Considering the ache might 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, and so they stated there was a tumor within the colon.”On account of protocols in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Frost wasn’t in a position to have her husband or her daughter within the room. “It was actually exhausting and really complicated,” she says.Second-grade trainer Stefania Frost was recognized with stage 3 colon most cancers at 36. (Courtesy Stefania Frost)Frost was recognized with stage 3 colon most cancers, which had unfold to her lymph nodes.The analysis 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 attributable to colon most cancers and her mother and uncle obtained further screening in consequence, “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 in addition had 49 lymph nodes eliminated.It is sadly “extra frequent than not” for youthful sufferers to be recognized with later-stage colorectal most cancers, Dr. Aparna Parikh, Frost’s oncologist and medical director of the Heart for Younger Grownup Colorectal Most cancers at Mass Basic Brigham, tells TODAY.com.Researchers are nonetheless working to grasp the current rise in colorectal cancers in folks beneath 50 — and why they’re so typically recognized with extra superior illnesses, Parikh says.For some, “there is a large diagnostic delay,” she explains. It is common 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 might recommend colorectal most cancers.Based on Parikh, potential indicators of colon most cancers you should not ignore embody:Remedy went effectively, however unwanted effects and fertility struggles nonetheless weighed on Frost.After the analysis, Frost would wish to endure chemotherapy. “However the issue was I wished to get pregnant once more,” she says.On the time, her associates have been having their second youngsters or pregnant, and Frost was prepared for a second baby. So, earlier than she began chemotherapy, Frost went by means of an egg retrieval cycle within the hopes of getting embryos.”I solely bought one (embryo),” she says, however the aim of getting pregnant once more helped get her by means of an intensive three months of chemotherapy.Frost together with her husband and 5-year-old daughter. (Courtesy Stefania Frost)She felt chilly and her arms have been numb attributable to unwanted 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 exhausting too,” Frost says. Due to the surgical procedure, “I could not raise my daughter,” Frost recollects, so her mom would take her for the day. “It was exhausting to not have that relationship.”As exhausting because the therapy was, “I simply actually wished to get pregnant,” Frost recollects. “My motivation was like, ‘I’ll get by means of this, I’ll do it after which I’ll get pregnant.'”Her chemotherapy led to November and, when January rolled round, Frost and her husband determined to strive implanting the embryo.”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 in relation to fertility and most cancers therapy, Dr. Parikh says, together with a affected person’s baseline ovarian reserve and the particular therapies they want. Radiation, which is usually wanted to deal with rectal most cancers, she says, can scale back fertility, in addition to some forms 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 by means of about two years of infertility therapy. “I went by means of a few cycles of IVF (and) IUI, and I by no means bought pregnant,” Frost says. “That was actually exhausting for me.””Encompass your self with positivity.”As we speak, Frost is sort of 4 years out from her colon most cancers analysis and has her blood examined recurrently to watch for the opportunity of a recurrence as a part of a medical trial. Thus far, she’s stayed cancer-free, however she’s additionally navigating a fancy set of feelings.”I am so completely satisfied that I am good, I am recovering and I am cancer-free,” she says. “However I’ve to cope with not having one other child.” Including to that’s the inevitable nervousness 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 bought by means of chemo simply being like, ‘I can do that. This isn’t going to take over my life,'” she says. On the similar time, “It is okay to cry,” she says, “and there are days after I nonetheless cry.”Frost additionally encourages her associates to take their well being critically. “I am making an attempt to inform different folks, particularly my associates, ‘Go get colonoscopies once you’re 45,'” she says. Or in the event that they really feel regarding signs, she tells them to go to the physician shortly fairly than ready it out.Parikh agrees: “Take heed to your physique. And advocate for your self if you happen to’re unsure.”This text was initially printed on TODAY.com