Nurse goes viral with heartbreaking video about cancer diagnosis

Treatment options currently include surgery to remove all tumors as well as chemotherapy and radiation to kill cancer cells.

According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States, both for men and women.

It is also the third leading cause of cancer death among US men and women and is expected to cause more than 50,000 deaths in 2018.

According to the SEER database of the National Cancer Institute, the five-year relative survival rate for people with stage I colon cancer is 92%.

However, once the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, such as the liver, it decreases considerably. The five-year relative survival rate for stage IV is about 12%.

Waller, who works twice and is a single mother of eight-year-old Landyn, and three-year-old Harper Jeanne, said she began experiencing abdominal pain in May and went to see a doctor after losing 12 pounds in six months.

Because breast cancer runs in her family, she thought it could be the underlying health problem, but the results of her tests were negative.

Then, in June, she noticed blood when she went to the bathroom and her stomach pains persisted. She consulted with her gastroenterologist.

She underwent a colonoscopy and said that she knew something was wrong when she woke up at the post-anesthesia recovery unit.

"The procedure normally lasts an hour but when I woke up to the PACU, it was almost three hours later," she told the Daily Mail Online.

"The doctor said to me," Hopefully, I'll see you in a few weeks and if not, I'll see you after the procedure. "So I asked the nurse if the doctor would come to see me and she said, 'Yes'.

"And my boyfriend, Omar, was next to me and I turned to him and said," I have cancer. "

The doctor told Waller that they had found a large tumor and that in August, he had revealed himself to be a malignant tumor. While the cancer has not yet spread to his liver or lungs, Waller has learned that it is likely to spread to his lymph nodes.

"At first you're shocked, so you're angry, so you're a little sad because you're thinking about children, about your future," she said.

Waller said that she decided to make the video after realizing that there was probably a lot of misinformation about colon cancer.

"Colon cancer is considered the disease of older men, but I am a 32-year-old woman," she said.

"And if I'm a nurse and I did not know you could have such a young colon cancer, then probably other people do not know it, I have to be a positive voice and make people aware of that. . "

Waller posted the five-and-a-half-minute video on his Facebook page on August 29.

"The day I posted, I thought," I can sit here to talk to no one and get treatment or I can post this video and maybe two people will watch and a person will be tested, "she said.

"I did not know it would become viral."

Until now, the video has collected over 22,000 views and has been shared more than 200 times.

Waller said he was touched by the reaction to the video.

"It has been so inspiring, I can not even explain it – the amount of love and support among strangers who talk to me," she said.

"It kind of restores your faith in humanity, all these messages are overwhelming in a positive way, and at a time that should be a dark time, it was revealing."

On Monday, Waller will undergo a colectomy, which removes part of the colon, and doctors will examine her lymph nodes to determine if she needs chemotherapy treatment.

Waller hopes that people who watch the video and read his story remind them to make their health a priority.

"We live in a fast-paced world, where every day is a deadline and we always hurry," she said.

"We forget each other but you have to take time for yourself because it's just a story you hear, but you never think that it will happen to you." I would never have thought of a million d & # 39; years

His colleagues set up a GoFundMe page to cover his medical expenses and make up for missing days at work.

So far, $ 7,400 has been raised against a target of $ 10,000.