Doctor, 37, diagnosed with stage 4 cancer after spotting these two 'mild' symptoms

A doctor who diagnosed herself with stage 4 colon cancer has revealed the two key warning signs that led her to make the discovery. Dr Lauren Juyia, a gynaecologist, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022 at the age of 37 after she noticed the signs herself.

Despite only experiencing two "mild" symptoms at the time, she's been raising awareness about these early warning signs as she believes many people may dismiss them as something else - which is exactly what she did initially. She explained that she started feeling fatigued in August 2022 but initially attributed it to ageing and leading a busy life.

However, when this tiredness was accompanied by a "sense of pelvic heaviness", she had a gut feeling that something wasn't quite right. When this "heaviness" evolved into what Dr Juyia described as a "pelvic mass", she knew she needed to schedule an ultrasound.

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It was during this scan that larger-than-normal masses near her ovary were discovered, leading to her colon cancer diagnosis. Speaking to Good Morning America, she said: "Having a background in obstetrics, we describe size by weeks of pregnancy, and so I was like, 'Oh my God, I have a 16-week-size mass'. From experience, I could tell that this was my ovary."

The Florida-based doctor consulted with other doctors and sought multiple opinions, reports Surrey Live.

She admitted she knew it wasn't "going to be good" when the mass grew from 8cm to 24cm within just two weeks.

Dr Juyia revealed she had "never seen anything benign" grow so rapidly, which led her to suspect cancer, initially thinking it was ovarian due to the location of the masses. By September 2022, she found herself in surgery to remove the growths that had spread to her ovaries, uterus, omentum, appendix, and even her abdomen.

Despite the swift expansion of the masses, she experienced no severe symptoms except for a sense of "pelvic heaviness" and fatigue, which she attributed to her busy life as a full-time working mum with two young children. She said: "I was a little tired in the afternoon for about two months previous to this and as a mum with two little kids - I had been recently nursing them, they were still waking up in the night, I work full time - I didn't think anything of saying, 'Oh, I think I need a tea in the afternoon'. Whereas maybe someone in their 50s or 60s would be much more tired from stage 4 tumours taking up their energy."

The HSE lists other potential signs of colon or bowel cancer as changes in bowel habits, blood in the stool, stomach pains, and unexplained weight loss.

After being diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, Dr Juyia embarked on six months of chemotherapy, continuing to work throughout her treatment, finding solace in caring for her patients, which she described as "therapeutic".

Last March, Dr Juyia had another operation to take out a dormant tumour and by April, she was given the all-clear with "no evidence of disease". The mum-of-two is now on a mission to raise awareness about the early signs of the illness, like tiredness and a feeling of "pelvic heaviness", urging younger people in particular to be vigilant.

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