Summer P.

Summer P.

Age 25

MY MOTHER WAS DIAGNOSED AT THE AGE OF 35 WITH COLON CANCER AND LOST HER BATTLE AT AGE 40. LUCKILY, I GOT TESTED AT 24.

Right before my 25th birthday I was experiencing abdominal pain and went to get checked out. Earlier that year (2015 at age of 24) I had gotten genetically tested for genetic mutations that cause cancer and all strands (25) had come back negative! With the onset of pain, my medical team decided to go forward with a colonoscopy since I was close to 25 and it was 10 years before my mother’s diagnosed age. Going into the colonoscopy we were looking for signs of Chrohn’s or colitis cancer was the last thing on my mind since my genetic test had come back negative months earlier! After getting out of my procedure and coming to, my doctor told me that they had found three polyps and two were pre-cancerous. Thankfully, the team was able to scrape the polyps to prevent them from growing. I’m so happy I decided to get screened on time. If I would have held off until 50 (when doctors really push), or even 35, my story might have been completely different.