ST. LOUIS — Joelle Myszka of Creve Coeur was the picture of perfect health: she and her husband, Kyle, enjoyed yoga, hiking, and spending time with family and friends.
Which is why a colorectal cancer diagnosis at age 43 came as a complete shock.
“You just don’t think of those types of things happening in your 40s. Usually you think people are older when they get diagnosed with something like cancer,” Myszka said.
Myszka was aware that she would need to get a colonoscopy when she turned 45, instead of the old recommendation of 50. There was a history of colorectal cancer in her family, with both sets of her biological grandmothers.
But her timeline for screening changed almost overnight.
In the spring of 2023, she began noticing intermittent bleeding in her stool. Realizing something was wrong, she immediately alerted her primary care physician, who recommended she get a colonoscopy.
She received the disease diagnosis a week later.
Myszka’s medical oncologist, Mercy St. Louis Dr. Kavitha Kosuri, says Myszka speaks to an alarming trend: younger patients getting diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
“The average age at which colorectal cancer is diagnosed is definitely decreasing,” Kosuri said. “I have a gentleman at age 26 who was recently diagnosed.”
For older adults, incidents of colorectal cancer have been dropping by about 1% a year.
But for those younger than 55 years of age, rates have been increasing by 1-2% since the mid-1990s.
Poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle are linked to colorectal cancer. However, Dr. Kosuri stated that the exact cause remains unknown. And unlike other cancers, the symptoms don’t readily present themselves.
“The most common symptom, unfortunately, is that people may not have symptoms, which is why screening colonoscopies is so important because they can catch things earlier than when people might feel something,” Dr. Kosuri said.
In layman’s terms, colorectal cancer happens as the inside of the colon is prone to developing polyps, and sometimes that eventually can become cancerous polyps, Kosuri said.
March is Colorectral Cancer Awareness Month—a reminder that prevention is key.
Diet and exercise are important, Dr. Kosuri said. And as far as testing, the best method is the colonoscopy. Many people avoid colonoscopies because of the preparation involved and the “fear” factor. But she says a colonoscopy is the “gold standard” as a screening tool over a home test.
“The reason for that is because even if another non-invasive test might suggest colon cancer, it will then lead to a colonoscopy—because if there is a lesion, even if it’s not cancerous, it’s pre-cancerous, and it can be removed with appropriate procedures during a colonoscopy. And so, [a colonoscopy] has both a diagnostic purpose as well as cutting to the chase if there is a pre-cancerous lesion.”
Myszka has been described as a perfect patient by her oncologist; she listened to her body, noticed when something wasn’t right, and immediately contacted her physician.
From there, she underwent a colonoscopy and later surgery, then radiation with chemo pills.
She also played an active role in selecting her care team with Mercy St. Louis. That team includes her primary care physician, her oncologist, and her surgeon.
Nearly a year after her diagnosis, Myszka said she is doing well. She goes in for checkups every three months and has made changes to her diet, with the biggest change being avoiding processed foods and sugars as much as possible.
“Even the changes to my diet have made me feel even better than where I did prior to diagnosis. The diagnosis was not fun. It was not fun going through all the treatment; however, I do feel that some of the lifestyle changes have really helped me do better in life, even since my diagnosis,” she said.
Her advice? Listen to your body and be your best advocate.
“Younger people can sometimes write off being tired or fatigued as ‘oh, I’m doing so much, or I’m stressed out at work.’ Pay attention to your body. I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve taken away from this. Just pay attention to everything that is going on. Be an advocate for yourself; be an advocate for your health,” Myszka said.