I got diagnosed with colon cancer at 44 — these were my 4 main symptoms
Just when she thought life couldn't get busier, New Jersey mom of six Elaine Griffin got diagnosed with Stage 2b colon cancer.
'I was very shocked, and I think the doctors were as well because it doesn't typically affect someone in their mid-40s,' Griffin told The Post.
Colorectal cancer is on the rise among people under 50 — a trend that's baffling doctors. Griffin was 44 when doctors discovered that a 4.3-centimeter tumor had broken through the wall of her sigmoid colon, the part of the large intestine that connects to the rectum.
The Hamilton Square resident underwent surgery and chemotherapy before being declared cancer-free in September 2024.
With March being Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, Griffin is sharing her story in the hopes of inspiring others to sign up for a colonoscopy, which is the most effective way to diagnose colon cancer.
'One of the things I did was kind of beg for my life,' Griffin recalled. 'I prayed to God and I said, 'You know, if you just let me live, I'll do anything I can to make sure that other people have this information.''
Griffin, who had no history of colon cancer in her family, reveals the four main signs that prompted her to seek medical help in the spring of 2024.
The 'scary thing' for Griffin was that her symptoms would come in waves. In the fall of 2023, she noticed some food intolerance. It seemed like she had a gluten allergy, even though she didn't have one.
Griffin documented her digestion troubles in a notebook to see if a particular food triggered issues.
She's always been mindful of her diet because she was born without a gallbladder, and her appendix was removed in 1993. Processing oils has been a struggle for 30 years.
'It was one of those things where I knew something was going on, but I didn't see it was anything more than, 'OK, maybe I'm just getting older,'' said Griffin, who will turn 46 in July.
After experiencing what 'felt like glass going through my intestines' a few times following breakfast, she eliminated dairy from her diet, then bread, pasta and grains.
The severe cramping persisted even as she ate raw foods and meats.
In January 2024, Griffin lost 20 pounds.
'I was not exercising or consciously trying to lose weight,' she recounted. 'I did begin to associate food with pain.'
Griffin's symptoms ramped up between January and March 2024, and she underwent testing at RWJBarnabas Health.
'My normal speed is pretty, pretty fast,' said Griffin, the associate director of the Office of Research at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.
Griffin has three biological daughters and three stepdaughters. Their ages range from 10 to 32.
'I started to feel more exhausted doing very normal things — climbing a flight of stairs, walking down a hallway, things that would never, ever cause any kind of stress' before, she said.
One undeniable symptom Griffin couldn't dismiss was blood in her stool.
'I experienced intense and sudden abdominal pain pretty frequently. My abdomen was bloated,' Griffin described. 'It was very hard to sit, stand and use the bathroom. I started noticing blood with each bowel movement.'
Her poop was narrow, what's known as 'pencil-thin stool,' and she didn't feel relief using the bathroom.
Griffin's fears were confirmed when doctors couldn't complete her colonoscopy — the tumor was obstructing her colon.
She was diagnosed in April 2024 with Stage 2b colon cancer, meaning her cancer had spread beyond her colon wall but not to lymph nodes or distant organs.
'If she delayed seeking medical attention, she would have rather quickly developed complete colon obstruction and would have required resection with colostomy (which eventually would have been reversible),' Dr. Charles Eisengart, Griffin's surgeon at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, told The Post.
Eisengart removed the bottom part of her sigmoid colon to rid her body of the tumor. Griffin didn't need a colostomy bag to collect her waste, but she did require chemotherapy.
She did oral and infusion chemotherapy and was declared cancer-free after doctors completed her colonoscopy in September.
'I tried to live as normal of a life as I could — even on chemo,' Griffin said. 'I missed some things, but not too much. I would say I had more good days than bad, and I think that that's what people need to hear.'
As if Griffin wasn't busy enough, she launched a campaign to get 2,000 people to sign up for colonoscopies by April.
More than 1,400 people have completed their screenings — 100 more are scheduled through mid-May.
Griffin said cancer has been detected in two people through this movement. A family friend was diagnosed with Stage 2a colon cancer, and a person in Europe was determined to have early stage stomach cancer.
Guidelines suggest that people at average risk of colon cancer start getting screened at 45 — those with a family history may have to begin earlier and get tested more often. Early detection is crucial because it significantly improves treatment outcomes and survival rates.
'The tumor that I actually had taken out had grown over the course of 10 years,' Griffin noted. 'I had no clue, and that's why colonoscopies are really important. I just knew something was changing, but I wasn't quite sure.'
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