A woman who’s been diagnosed with colorectal cancer has spoken candidly about her early symptoms, which she ultimately missed.
The mother of two, Bri Mahon, shared a video on her TikTok last month to describe the symptoms she’d experienced before being diagnosed with stage three cancer. As noted by the Cleveland Clinic, colorectal cancer starts in the body’s colon, which is “the long tube that helps carry digested food to your rectum and out of your body”.
Mahon started her video by explaining that these symptoms are what encouraged her to see a doctor and to get a colonoscopy, a procedure where a doctor uses a scope to examine one’s rectum or colon.
The 31-year-old then noted that she’s had a lot of “gut issues in general” over the last few years, which she thought were signs of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a condition in the digestive system that can cause cramping or bloating.
“I’ve been very careful with my diet, very clean,” she said, noting that she had cut out gluten and dairy. “I’ve taken allergy tests, taken blood tests. And nothing concerning came up, as far as my white blood cell count, as far as really severe issues with going to the bathroom. I was just irritated and bloated a lot.”
However, she shared that, about two years ago, she started to notice a change in her anxiety and fatigue. As a result, she said that she had to “step back” from the work that she was doing.
“I was having panic attacks,” Mahon recalled. “And I think it’s just because my body was really, really tired, and going through whatever it’s going through - growing a tumour.”
While fatigue can be due to a number of different reasons, the Cleveland Clinic notes that “cancer-related fatigue is one of the most common side effects of cancer” and is described as “a whole-body tiredness that is not relieved by sleep”.
In her video, Mahon went on to share that, after she gave birth to her twins, who were born premature, in September 2022, she started noticing “blood in her stool”.
She said that originally, she thought the blood was due to haemorrhoids from pregnancy or a flare up of her IBS symptoms. She also recalled how stressed out she was at the time.
“My boys spent four months in the NICU, so I wasn’t even really thinking about what I was going through,” she said. “I thought it was stress. I thought it was depression, I thought it was anxiety. Kind of all these things coming up again, my fatigue was really bad.”
The TikToker also said that she was experiencing bloating and constipation, but again thought these symptoms were caused by stress due to her children being in the Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) .
However, Mahon said she became concerned when she started to see “more regular blood in [her] stool”. She also noted that when her blood got darker and her “urge to go to the bathroom was out of control,” she took it as a sign that “something was wrong”.
“This only happened for a few months,” she explained. “And I called my doctor and got a referral to an awesome GI (gastroenterologist), went in, and she actually thought it was at first an autoimmune disease. And then once I got the colonoscopy, she told me that she’s pretty confident it’s cancer.”
From there, Mahon said that she underwent “10 biopsies,” before discovering that she had stage three cancer.
As noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, blood in your stool and change in your bowel habits are two common symptoms of colorectal cancer.
Mahon’s video has since gone viral on TikTok, where it has more than 1.2m views. In the comments, many people shared how they could relate to her experience, as they explained some of their own health issues that encouraged them to see a doctor.
“I also had heightened anxiety about nine months before I was diagnosed,” one viewer wrote. “That’s interesting, it’s like our bodies were sending a message. I was also stage three.”
“I pushed for a colonoscopy at age 23 and they found a pre-cancerous polyp. If you think something is up, push for testing!” another added.
A third said: “I have IBS, recently had blood in my stool and got in for an endoscope and colonoscopy and luckily it’s just haemorrhoids. Thankful and relieved.”
Other viewers went on to praise Mahon for sharing her story while opening up about their personal experiences with cancer.
“I had stage three colon cancer six years ago..I’m 100 per cent cancer free!!” one person wrote. “You will do great!! I had almost the exact same symptoms. I have twins also!!”
“My boyfriend had stage three B colon cancer at age 25. Now he’s about to be 31,” another added. “Colon cancer is becoming so so common.”
Earlier this week, Mahon shared an update about her cancer in a TikTok video, in which she revealed that she recently started radiation and chemo treatments.
The Independent has contacted Mahon for comment.
