Your Age Should Never Be a Barrier to Care
Colorectal cancer used to be a disease of older adults, but the demographics are changing. Diagnoses in people under age 50 have more than doubled, from around 6 percent of cases in the early 2000s to almost 14 percent today.
That’s why organizations like the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lowered the recommended screening age from 50 to 45. Yet even with earlier screening, young people like Suranski often get dismissed or misdiagnosed.
“Often because of age, these patients are being overlooked or dismissed by their primary care provider, the community, and even by their family members. Sometimes they are told they are overreacting,” says Mohammed Najeeb Al Hallak, MD, a co-leader of the Gastrointestinal and Neuroendocrine Oncology Multidisciplinary Team at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit.
Suranski says she was gaslighted. “I felt like I was being delusional, and that was really frustrating.”
Luckily, Acosta insisted on getting a colonoscopy, which revealed stage 3 rectal cancer. “I think if it wasn’t for me pushing back, she probably would have just … done whatever the treatment would have been for IBS.”
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