Health4 min(s) read
Mom who was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer issues warning about symptoms her doctors dismissed years earlier
A mother who was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer has shared the symptoms she started experiencing several years earlier that were dismissed by doctors.
Marisa Peters, 44, from Los Angeles, opened up about the symptoms of colorectal cancer which doctors had initially chalked up to being a side-effect from childbirth.
The mom-of-three, who is a former Broadway vocalist, revealed that she first noticed bleeding when going to the bathroom after having her first son, but says doctors just put it down to changes in her body after pregnancy and birth.
She explained to Fox News Digital: "Symptoms intensified to where blood was filling the toilet … then I had increased urgency to go to the bathroom. The size, shape and texture of my stool also changed."
Marisa raised these concerns with with her primary care physician as well as other doctors but, being in her early 30s at the time, they believed she didn't fit the "typical" blueprint of a colorectal cancer (CRC) patient - though statistics show the disease has been rising in younger individuals.
She explained: "They didn’t realize the face of colorectal cancer had changed. It now looked like someone much younger.
"We’re seeing a rise in people, younger and younger, unfortunately, with late-stage diagnosis, which leads to pretty abysmal mortality rates."
Rather than taking the prospect of cancer seriously - with early detection and intervention key to a better prognosis - Marisa says she was told by her doctor that women's "bodies change when we have babies" and says her concerns were "ultimately dismissed".
Though she could "check every single box" for CRC symptoms, including being severely anemic, which she wasn't aware of at the time, it was set to take several more years before her cancer was discovered.
Over the following five years, Marisa's symptoms continued even as she had two more children.
She sought answers from a gastroenterologist as there was "always blood" in her stools, and found that this doctor was "stunned and shocked" to hear others had brushed off her symptoms for so long.
This doctor finally ran tests on her blood and stools, which came back positive for CRC, which was confirmed after an urgent colonoscopy.
Marisa was officially diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in June 2021 after a five-centimeter tumor was found at the top of her rectum, and she was given 11 months of chemotherapy and radiation, which shrunk the tumor to half its size.
She then had surgery to reconstruct her rectum and was fitted with a temporary ileostomy bag, which diverted waste away from the area for four months to allow it to heal.
Marisa then underwent another six more rounds of chemotherapy after which her ileostomy was reversed and her body was "essentially put back together".
Though her own cancer was "too far gone" for a colonoscopy to have made a difference in her diagnosis, she urged others to push for a screening if they have any concerns or are at high risk of CRC.
Following her diagnosis, Marisa's sister went for a colonoscopy despite not having any symptoms, and doctors found and removed pre-cancerous polyps. They later discovered that their parents had also both had pre-cancerous polyps removed.
Marisa founded BE SEEN, a colorectal cancer nonprofit advocating for earlier intervention and screening, to help raise awareness and encourage people to get screened to catch the disease in its early stages.
She added: "Colorectal cancer is an entirely preventable disease, even though it’s on the rise in people in their 20s, 30s and 40s for reasons we don’t know.
"I want people to be seen for their symptoms … I want them to be seen for their story. And I want them to be seen, ultimately, for their screenings, because we know they save lives.
"I lost so much time, and I’m still deeply questioning why I am here to talk about it when so many other people get a late-stage diagnosis and don’t have the complete response that I had.
"We’re losing people far too soon, and it’s just not okay. This is not something we should be settling for."
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is now the leading cause of cancer death in adults under 50 and the second leading cause of cancer death in the US, with adults under 65 making up 45% of all new cases.