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When Kierstyn Roberts, then 21, started to experience chest pain last fall, she thought she was stressed. It made sense – she was a full-time math student and resident assistant at Indiana University during a pandemic. When the chest pain got worse, she went to the hospital and learned that anxiety wasn’t the cause – she had stage 4 colon cancer.
“I thought this was something I could be medicated for, that it would be an easy fix and I would just go back to a normal 21-year-old life,” said Roberts, now 22, of Indianapolis, TODAY. “The more the doctor explained things, the more I was afraid. I thought I was going to die.
Roberts shares her story to encourage others to be aware of their bodies and seek treatment if something goes wrong.
“Pay attention to what your body tells you,” she says. “I’m not saying I ignored mine. I just didn’t have enough information.
Chest pain and pressure
In September 2020, Roberts started to feel tightness in his chest, which was “swollen to the point where I felt like something was pushing against my rib cage.” But it happened so randomly that she wasn’t sure it was a problem. Then the pressure in his chest intensified on the right side of his body.
“Every time I spoke, laughed, stretched, coughed or anything like that, I felt a sharp pain instantly,” she says. “I couldn’t sleep for a while without my side hurting and it was strong enough where I knew it wasn’t a pain I could really ignore.
Roberts visited a local emergency care clinic and the doctor suspected the college food had inflamed Roberts’ gallbladder and gave him medication to relieve the discomfort.
“I felt better in the morning. I was able to get out of bed, take the meds and get through the day. But there were times when I still felt that feeling of pressure, ”she said. “The sharp pain was no longer a problem, but it got to a point where my stomach was full.”
On September 13, she woke up with severe chest pains as she struggled to breathe.
“This is where I got really concerned,” said Roberts. “21-year-olds don’t have such chest pains. It is not something normal.
She visited another emergency care clinic and the doctor said she was fine and there was not much to do. Roberts couldn’t believe it.
“Chest pain is very serious,” she says. “When I was talking to him he would say, ‘Well, for a 21 year old you shouldn’t have chest pain. So maybe you are just overwhelmed. ”
Stunned, Roberts went to the emergency room for a second opinion.
“I knew for myself how I felt that there had to be something that could be done,” she said.
Doctors in the emergency room performed urine and blood tests and had a CT scan of his chest. The blood and urine tests were normal.
“Part of me knew there was something more going on because I kept wondering if I could eat,” she said, adding that the nurse kept saying that ‘they had to wait. “I continued to have this feeling as if maybe there was a reason for it.”
When the doctors arrived, she finally understood why.
“They found several tumors on my liver and in my colon,” she says. “They didn’t confirm it was cancerous. They just said they found a lot of tumors.
After the colonoscopy, Roberts learned she had stage 4 colon cancer.
“My mind has gone blank,” she said. “I thought it was a joke. I literally thought he was joking or trying to scare me needlessly… It might not make sense, but that’s what my brain thought.
Colon cancer and young people
Like many people, Roberts considered colon cancer to be an “old man’s disease.” But colorectal cancer is on the rise in young people. In 2020, approximately 18,000 people under the age of 50 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Since the mid-1980s, adults aged 20 to 39 have experienced increased rates of colorectal cancer. For people aged 40 to 54, rates have been increasing since the mid-1990s.
The American Cancer Society notes that blacks suffer from colorectal cancer at rates about 20% higher than non-Hispanic whites and that the death rate is almost 40% higher.
Symptoms of colon cancer include:
- Iron deficiency
- Rectal bleeding
- Blood in stool
- Weakness or fatigue
- Abdominal pain
- Narrow stools, diarrhea or constipation
- Urgent need to have a bowel movement
- Unexplained weight loss
Life with stage 4 cancer
Roberts’ doctor recommended intense chemotherapy to shrink the tumors, and she left school for the fall semester to focus on her health. Sometimes it seems overwhelming.
“You go through life in college, thinking you’re going to graduate, get a job – like all those normal things – and then you get hit by that rock,” Roberts said. “You have colon cancer and it’s not just colon cancer, it’s stage 4. It’s not easy at all.”
The chemotherapy was difficult and some days Roberts felt too exhausted to walk or even sit in bed. Since finishing, she has been on maintenance chemotherapy, to help keep the cancer from spreading further, and has started to feel better. She was bored so she learned to knit. She also finds pleasure in walking, painting and starting a podcast. This semester, she signed up for online courses.
“I… spread the word about colon cancer and general health,” she said. “I have the power to influence the community not only as a young person, but also as a young person with an old man’s illness.”
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