A young woman has revealed the subtle first sign she experienced before being diagnosed with incurable colorectal cancer.
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Dominique McShain was just 20 years old when she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in April 2024.
The New Zealand college student has shared her story on TikTok, revealing that there was one subtle symptom she initially dismissed - which had nothing to with her stomach at all.
Sharing a storytime post of how she realized something was wrong, Dominique revealed that the first symptom was that she was extremely tired all the time.
She told her followers: "I kind of noticed that I would be so fatigued all the time, like I could barely watch a lecture without sleeping."
Dominique added: "So I'd have a normal night's sleep and then sleep five to six hours every single day. It was horrible."
She revealed that she'd initially thought she might have glandular fever until she started noticing blood in her feces, which would switch from constipation and diarrhea and normal stools.
It took her three to four weeks before she decided to see a doctor to get it checked out.
While her normal blood test results came back okay, her liver results were abnormally high, and a second test a week later showed that her liver results had again increased by a large amount, meaning she needed an emergency ultrasound, where "massive lumps" were found.
She had further tests which determined that the cancer had started in her colon but metastasized to her liver, where most of the tumors were concentrated, meaning she was at stage 4.
Dominique also shared photos of her in the weeks and months leading up to her diagnosis, showing she had appeared to be the picture of health on the outside.
She wrote in January: "I still can’t comprehend how I can look so well and healthy yet be so sick inside to the point I have a terminal illness?!
"Like how is my sickness past the point of curability? The math isn’t mathing in my head still … Not sure if it ever will."
She revealed that she had been given between one and five years to live after her diagnosis, but tragically shared an update a few months later to reveal that her cancer had metastasized to her lungs and she had been given just a few months to a year.
Dominique told her followers: "The oncologists have now estimated I have less that a year left, and it’s likely to be months.
"This came much sooner than anyone anticipated, and the reality is crushing. I had hoped for many more years, but now that seems out of reach.”
Recent studies have shown an increase in colorectal cancer diagnoses among younger adults, with a 2023 report by the American Cancer Society highlighting that 20% of colorectal cancer diagnoses in 2019 were in patients under 55, approximately double the rate in 1995.