In 2018, Casandra Costley, then 32 years old, noticed bleeding. But, she thought it was a hemorrhoid and didn’t think to tell her doctor.
“I didn’t care about it. I had rectal pain, which I also thought was a hemorrhoid,” Costley, 38, of Utah, tells TODAY.com. “It was coming and going.”
Then, in February 2024, Costley felt “lost,” lost his appetite and noticed that his bowel habits had changed. Gradually, his new bathing habits greatly affected his participation in daily life.
Before she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, Casandra Costley worked as a travel consultant, helping people book tours.
“I was worried about working properly,” he says. He then visited a gastroenterologist, who performed a colonoscopy, and learned that he had Stage 4 colon cancer. Since her diagnosis, she has been sharing her experiences on social media.
“It’s not something that people are comfortable talking about, bleeding from the guts,” he says. “(That) means it’s not talked about, so I thought I could do it. It is not difficult for me to talk about it.”
Rectal bleeding
When Costley first noticed rectal bleeding, he suspected it was a hemorrhoid, as they ran in his family.
“I was like, ‘Oh, just like the rest of my family,'” she says.
Over the years, the bleeding and pain became more frequent, which Costley thought was normal. Last year, he underwent weight loss surgery and changed his diet, and his symptoms disappeared.
“I thought, ‘Oh, maybe the wound is healed,'” he recalls. “I didn’t know much about it.”
But then the bleeding returned with new symptoms. Soon, Costley lost his will, and his behavior changed.
“All day I felt like I had to have a bowel movement,” he says. “It was tiring and uncomfortable, and for some reason I didn’t bring it up (to my doctor).”
When her symptoms interfered with her daily routine to the point of making it difficult to get through the day, she asked her urologist for a referral to a GI specialist. That doctor ordered a colonoscopy, and when Costley woke up from it, he knew something was wrong.
“He showed me a picture of my tumor,” he says. “He was like, ‘I’m really worried that this looks like colon cancer, but let’s do a biopsy.’
He had never thought his bleeding and pain could be cancer.
“I thought he was going to tell me I had hemorrhoids or IBS or something,” she says. “(Colorectal cancer) is not on most people’s radars.”
The doctor also ordered a CT scan and an MRI. Three days after the surgery, Costley learned the type of cancer he had — invasive adenocarcinoma, which is the most common type of colon and rectal cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. The CT scan showed that the cancer had metastasized to his liver and possibly his lungs.
Soon, he met with a GI doctor.
“I was thinking, ‘Well, they should just go in and get it out,'” Costley recalled. “When I met with the GI surgeon, he explained that the tumor is T3, which is a high-grade tumor, because it grows through the colon … (and) going in and taking it out would be dangerous because they can’t come out. clean edges.”
Instead, the surgeon suggested Costley see an oncologist, who recommended “aggressive chemo” for three months.
After this, he will be tested to see if it is working, and the doctors will add to his treatment plan.
“If I hold myself accountable and if we can make the tumors shrink, they can come in and remove the tumor from my intestine,” he says.
The Costley family has been using comedy as a way to cope with Casandra Costley’s Stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis. Daughter Annika prays to “bless mother’s buttocks.”
He feels the best results from chemotherapy after only a short period of time.
“The chemo makes me sick,” she says. “Because I have a symptom of cancer, it takes whatever symptoms I had and makes it worse.”
Often, he feels pain in his liver, back and hips, and the nausea and lack of appetite have become “extreme.” Even so, when he feels well, he tries to exercise, and the illness has not affected his ability to be a parent.
“I feel grateful. I am now able to wake up every day and still (try to) send my daughter to school by myself when I can,” he says. “I want to do that, but it’s hard.”
Costley and his family often make jokes and try to find humor and joy in life. Her 12-year-old daughter, Annika, says in her nightly prayers, “Please bless mother’s buttocks.”
“It makes us laugh, but it comforts him, so we’re using humor to win,” says Costley. “We understand how difficult it is. It’s hard not to laugh about it.”
Colon cancer in young people
Colon cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in women under the age of 50, TODAY.com previously reported. Experts remain uncertain as to why this type of cancer is occurring more often in young people but they suspect that a combination of genetics and lifestyle factors such as sitting down and eating too much food have created it.
“It is possible that this is what is driving this. We see more men than women with colorectal cancer,” Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer of the American Cancer Society, told TODAY.com in 2023. it’s possible.”
As with any type of cancer, early detection results in better outcomes. Recognizing the symptoms and talking to a doctor about them can lead to early diagnosis.
Symptoms include:
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Abdominal pain for no reason
Casandra Costley says too many people are afraid to talk about the symptoms of colon cancer, such as bleeding in the stool, pain and frequent bowel movements. She doesn’t feel ashamed so she shares her story on social media to help others.
“Patients don’t just talk about symptoms,” Dr. David Liska, director of the Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center at the Cleveland Clinic told TODAY.com in 2023. “It’s a rare issue that people don’t talk about.”
‘The team you don’t want to belong to’
When Costley goes to the chemotherapy center, often the youngest person there, he can feel alone. Sharing her story on social media connected her with other young people with cancer.
“It’s a club you don’t want to be a member of,” he says. “But it’s a really, really supportive community and … there’s a lot of people who are helping me understand what I’m going through.”
Costley also appreciates hearing from people who have lived with Stage 4 colon cancer for a long time.
“These are the stories that interest me because I have great hope that I will do it,” he says. “Their stories give me hope and give me more reason to fight.”
From his diagnosis, Costley discovered “how precious life is.”
“I am an important part of our important life in our house, and I am not bragging about it,” he says. “It helped me realize that our whole house of cards will be destroyed if something happens to me. So I just want to fight hard to be able to speak and be an important part of my little family. “
Having “the most supportive husband in the world,” parents, siblings, foster parents and stepchildren means Costley has a great support system as she continues her cancer treatment.
She hopes that by sharing her journey on social media she will help others learn more about colon cancer and find hope when facing the dreaded disease.
Having the support of her family helps Casandra Costley as she struggles with Stage 4 colon cancer and treatment.
“I hope that anyone who might be in the same boat learns that these are signs to go to your doctor and talk about it and don’t be afraid to talk about it,” she says. “Life is precious and fragile and even in a terrible, difficult time, there is still much beauty to be found and happiness to be had.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com