I was “too young” to have colon cancer

As said Shannon Shelton Miller

I was thrilled to be pregnant with my first child at 29. Everything was going well for about eight months until the day I went to the bathroom and the toilet was full of blood. I immediately called my OB-GYN because I was afraid something was wrong with my baby.

At the appointment she assured me that we were both fine. Maybe it just was
hemorrhoids or my baby was starting to rest on my organs as he grew, causing some bleeding.

But new symptoms began to appear. I was dizzy, had severe stomach pains and couldn’t sleep at night. My OB-GYN told me that these are all normal during pregnancy. I had never been pregnant before so I thought it made sense.

2016 (Photo/Michael D Images)

The bleeding and crushing fatigue didn’t stop after I gave birth to my son, Cameron. Once again I was told this is normal for a new mom. Even when I continued to have vaginal and rectal bleeding months after giving birth, my gynecologist only suggested a change in birth control.

When Cameron turned 1, I knew I had to give something because the bleeding wouldn’t stop. This time I went to a primary care doctor who gave me pills first
irritable bowel syndrome. Just in case that doesn’t work, he said he’ll send a referral to a GI specialist.

Weeks later I had to see a specialist because the pills had done nothing. “You are a road
too young to be sitting in my office,” he said. “What’s going on?” I told him about my symptoms and he ordered a colonoscopy.

When I woke up in the operating room after the procedure, the doctor and four nurses were there, along with my husband, Derrick. The room seemed too full and I asked what was going on.

My doctor showed me photos of my colon and told me I had cancer.

“No, I’m not,” I said. We had built a relationship, so I started to laugh a little. “Okay, what’s really going on?”

He kept a straight face. “I would never joke about something like that,” he said. “You must have cancer.”

A few weeks later, my mother, husband, and I met with the oncologist. He passed by us, sat down and said. “Well, you have stage 4 cancer and…” He went on and on, but I didn’t hear anything after that. I just knew it couldn’t be as bad as what I was hearing in my head.

It happened. He said I was an extremely rare case because of my age and good health. The genetic test showed nothing. We had no family history of cancer. I was healthy, I played sports, I didn’t grow up with red meat, I didn’t understand.

I didn’t want to think about treatment at that moment. I told my family I wanted to go to the sunflower field near my house because I had never been. We picked sunflowers and took pictures. It was such a lovely day. We then picked my son up from daycare and I held him for the rest of the day.

The last seven years were very difficult. I have had several rounds of chemotherapy and surgeries. After my diagnosis, they removed a leg of my colon, two parts of my liver, and my gallbladder. I was very weak and could not walk. My little boy couldn’t sit on my lap and I couldn’t pick him up. I couldn’t even keep him alone.

The cancer was already in my liver when I was diagnosed. And over time the cancer spread to my lungs and my lymph nodes. I got spots all over my body, but the one on my heel was noticeably darker and I asked my oncologist to check it out. It turned out to be precancerous melanoma. I had to have surgery to remove it and it was incredibly painful because it was on my heel and they couldn’t numb it. They removed part of my heel and I couldn’t walk, drive or do anything for myself for four months. I was just helpless.

2023 (Jommy Photography)

During that time, there were several bright moments. I was in remission for most of 2021 and 2022 and 2022 was one of the best years of my life. I started working out again, doing pilates, hanging out with my friends and playing baseball with my son, it was great. I was even able to stop the treatment. But before that Christmas I was diagnosed with cancer in the lymph nodes in my chest. My doctors wanted me to start treatment before Christmas and I said I couldn’t. I had to make my perfect Christmas first. I’m glad I did because it was great.

I started the treatment again in January 2023 and I have to continue the treatment for the rest of my life. My regimen consists of three days of chemotherapy in the hospital and at home, and then I’m off for three weeks. I still stay busy as the Chief Administrative Officer of a tech-focused startup. I work a lot and travel a lot. I had life goals before I got sick, and I’m determined to do whatever it takes to achieve them. I’m 38 now, Cameron is 8, and I try to spend as much time with my family as possible.

I started sharing my story after going to a Colorectal Cancer Alliance event in 2019. During the dinner, they asked people in the audience to stand up and share their stories. There were actors and dancers on the stage who would act out whatever you said. It was very cool.

I was nervous, but I stood up and told my story. People were clapping and coming to hug me. There wasn’t one dry eye in the room.

To this day, no one knows why I developed colon cancer and why did this happen during my pregnancy?. Was it the rapid generation of cells that took place inside my body to grow a new person? It’s the only ring I can think of because I’m the only person in my family that has it. Since I had no family history or risk factors for colon cancer, I know that my young age was not conducive to early diagnosis.

That’s why I always tell people to do everything you can to protect yourself with your health care providers, because you don’t know what you don’t know. No doctor knows everything. Tell your doctor that you are not leaving that office until they take a deeper look at your problem, because it is your body and you know best when something is wrong.

This educational resource was created with the support of Daiichi Sankyo and Takeda.

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