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 instructor in Waltham, Massachusetts, observed a ache in her proper facet. “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, nevertheless, 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 subsequent few days, however Frost nonetheless went for the colonoscopy the subsequent week — and obtained surprising outcomes.”Afterward, the physician talked to me,” she remembers. “I am simply waking up, they usually mentioned there was a tumor within the colon.” As a result of protocols throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Frost wasn’t in a position to have her husband or her daughter within the room. “It was actually laborious 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 analysis got here as a complete shock to Frost, who was 36 on the time and solely had one noticeable symptom: stomach ache. She did not have some other 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 further screening consequently, “however they by no means mentioned something in regards to 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 widespread 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 Heart for Younger Grownup Colorectal Most cancers at Mass Basic Brigham, tells TODAY.com.Researchers are nonetheless working to know the current rise in colorectal cancers in individuals beneath 50 — and why they’re so usually identified with extra superior illnesses, Parikh says. For some, “there is a massive diagnostic delay,” she explains. It is commonplace for sufferers to imagine or be advised by their main care physician that they are coping with one thing like hemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome, Parikh says, even after they have signs that would recommend colorectal most cancers.In accordance with Parikh, attainable indicators of colon most cancers you should not ignore embrace:Belly ache that does not go awayUnexplained weight lossBlood within the rectum or stoolUnexplained anemiaTreatment went effectively, however negative 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 mates had been having their second children or pregnant, and Frost was prepared for a second youngster. So, earlier than she began chemotherapy, Frost went by way of an egg retrieval cycle within the hopes of getting embryos. “I solely acquired one (embryo),” she says, however the objective of getting pregnant once more helped get her by way of an intensive three months of chemotherapy. Frost along with her husband and 5-year-old daughter. Courtesy Stefania FrostShe felt chilly and her palms had been numb as a consequence of negative effects, and could not drink something chilly. Her infusions happened within the fall of 2020, early within the COVID-19 pandemic, so “I needed to be on my own, in order that was laborious too,” Frost says. Due to the surgical procedure, “I could not raise my daughter,” Frost remembers, so her mom would take her for the day. “It was laborious to not have that relationship.”As laborious because the therapy was, “I simply actually wished to get pregnant,” Frost remembers. “My motivation was like, ‘I will get by way of this, I will do it after which I will get pregnant.'”Her chemotherapy resulted in 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, which 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 therapy, Dr. Parikh says, together with a affected person’s baseline ovarian reserve and the particular remedies they want. Radiation, which is usually wanted to deal with rectal most cancers, she says, can cut back fertility, in addition to some kinds of chemotherapy. “We counsel those who the colon most cancers chemotherapy that we use, particularly if we use a extra aggressive one, could trigger infertility,” Parikh explains, “but it surely’s not a assure.”Frost ended up going by way of about two years of infertility therapy. “I went by way of a few cycles of IVF (and) IUI, and I by no means acquired pregnant,” Frost says. “That was actually laborious for me.””Encompass your self with positivity.”At this time, Frost is sort of 4 years out from her colon most cancers analysis and has her blood examined often to watch for the opportunity of a recurrence as a part of a scientific trial. Thus far, she’s stayed cancer-free, however she’s additionally navigating a posh set of feelings.”I am so comfortable 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 anxiousness about the opportunity of her most cancers coming again. “Each time I’ve a scan it is scary,” Frost says.When issues are powerful or when she’s reminded of her fertility struggles, Frost says she focuses on positivity and recommends others “encompass your self with optimistic individuals.” “I acquired by way of 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 after I nonetheless cry.” Frost additionally encourages her mates to take their well being critically. “I am attempting to inform different individuals, particularly my mates, ‘Go get colonoscopies if 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: “Hearken to your physique. And advocate for your self when you’re unsure.”