He was 37 years old, constipated and exhausted. What doctors thought was IBS was stage 3 colon cancer.

• Mohammad Samad had a stabbing pain in his abdomen, bloating and constipation.

• He had colon cancer, which was initially misdiagnosed as stress, IBS and Crohn’s disease.

• Colon cancer shares symptoms with other diseases, making it difficult for doctors to diagnose otherwise young, healthy patients.

Before Mohammad Samad was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer at the age of 37, he was in the best shape of his life.

“I was eating all the greens, making those healthy smoothies in the morning. I was cycling, exercising. I was doing yoga and meditation,” the former UK-based project manager told Business Insider.

A sudden, stabbing pain in Samad’s lower abdomen in October 2020 that lasted 20 seconds was the first sign that something was wrong.

“Her strength brought me to my knees,” he said.

By December, the pain was more intense and occurred every morning and evening. He could also feel a hard lump the size of a golf ball in the area.

Soon, he was exhausted all the time and often constipated and bloated. Lunch breaks he spent shooting hoops at a local park became nap time.

Samad assumed his symptoms were related to stress and his diet, or that he might have had COVID-19. “In my mind, it didn’t seem that bad,” he said.

But in January 2021, when he started feeling the lump, he finally went to the doctor at his wife’s request.

In the five months that followed, he made several visits to three different doctors and was misdiagnosed with stress, IBS, and Crohn’s disease. Eventually, Samad was diagnosed with colon cancer.

“They would look at me and say, ‘You’re young, you’re fit, you’re healthy. We can see that.’ And so I guess it’s a minor thing,” he said of the doctor’s visits.

The symptoms of colon cancer and conditions including IBS overlap, which means doctors are walking a tightrope when diagnosing younger, generally healthy patients.

Samad’s experience is not unusual for young cancer patients. A 2020 survey by the charity Bowel Cancer UK of 1,295 colorectal cancer patients diagnosed under the age of 50 found that 42% said doctors had told them they were too young to have the disease. In addition, two-thirds were initially misdiagnosed with conditions that have similar symptoms, such as IBS, hemorrhoids, or anemia. The survey reflects wider research into the misdiagnosis of young cancer patients.

Common symptoms of early-onset colon cancer include blood in the stool, abdominal pain, weight loss, loss of appetite, and constipation.

Samad was misdiagnosed with IBS and Crohn’s disease

The first doctor Samad saw said he didn’t feel a lump when he pressed on his abdomen and suggested he might have “a blockage,” possibly caused by stress. She prescribed Samad laxatives and told him to come back if his symptoms did not improve.

Four weeks later, when the laxatives hadn’t helped, another doctor prescribed IBS medication and more laxatives. The doctor also recommended going on an elimination diet to see if certain foods trigger IBS symptoms.

When things didn’t improve after two weeks and Samad was told to keep taking his IBS medication and cut out more foods, he asked for a blood test.

“I put my foot down and said, ‘I’m not leaving without a test,'” he said. It showed that Samad had worrisome levels of inflammation in his body, which was confirmed by blood and stool tests at the emergency room.

In May 2021, seven months after he first felt the intense pain, Samad was referred to a specialist who believed he had Crohn’s disease.

A colonoscopy, in which a thin tube with a microscopic camera at the end is placed into the rectum and colon, revealed that Samad had a tumor, which a biopsy confirmed to be advanced colon cancer.

“Luckily it didn’t spread, but it was at that stage where they said, ‘We’re going to throw the kitchen sink away,'” Samad said.

His mind “went into a black hole” as the oncologist talked about next steps. Samad’s father had recently died of COVID-19, and he worried about how his diagnosis would affect his family.

“How do I tell my mother who has just lost a life partner? How do I tell my siblings? How do I tell my children who have just been introduced to the concept of death by a loved one?” said Samad, whose two children were 8 and 6 at the time.

Samad’s treatment was derailed by infections

Samad underwent chemotherapy to shrink the tumor and surgery to remove it, but after two rounds of chemotherapy lasting four weeks each, he was hospitalized for five months with a “nasty” infection.

During that time, he was too sick to do chemo and his tumor had grown to the size of a small watermelon.

“The tumor was getting bigger and bigger and finally they said, ‘Now your intestine is perforated, bleeding all these toxins into your system,'” he said.

Samad had to have emergency surgery to remove it, which was successful, but left him with nerve damage in his leg and having to use a stoma bag. He has ongoing health issues but has been cancer free for two years.

“There are regular checks and I’ve been given the all-clear, which is amazing,” he said.

The tumor tested positive for Lynch syndrome

Samad’s tumor tested positive for a genetic condition called Lynch Syndrome, which increases a person’s risk of developing several types of cancer, including colon cancer.

The number of young people without Lynch syndrome who develop colon cancer despite a healthy lifestyle is increasing, for reasons scientists are trying to discover.

If caught early, colon cancer is often treatable. The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that people start getting tested at regular intervals when they turn 45, and people at higher-than-average risk should ask a health care professional about when they should start testing.

Around March 2022, Samad started a blog to share his experience and raise awareness about the rising rates of colon cancer in young people.

“There’s still that association that cancer is only for old people. It can affect everyone,” he said, adding: “Just listen to your body, go to a specialist, get those symptoms checked and really push for it.”

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