Once considered a disease of older generations, colon cancer is increasingly affecting younger adults, and scientists are racing to figure out why.
Some researchers point to modern diets lacking fibre as a possible cause. But even self-described health enthusiasts are finding themselves confronted with the disease.
Adrienne Lindsey was just 31 years old when she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, despite having no family history of the disease.
“In January of 2025, I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer; it had spread to my liver,” she recently revealed on TikTok.
“But nobody in my family has ever been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Not on my mum’s side or my dad’s side.”
Perhaps most concerningly, Adrienne says she has always maintained healthy habits.
She also recalls that the symptoms which may have pointed to the disease in the months leading up to her diagnosis were so subtle she barely noticed them at all.
It was only after Adrienne received a diagnosis that she began to notice the symptoms with hindsight.
Adrienne only began recognising the warning signs after she received a diagnosis
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“If you ask anyone who knows me, I am a very healthy person.
“I’ve been very healthy, I have been active my whole life, I eat very nutritiously, I try to stay on top of my water intake, I count my steps, I’m that kind of person, so this came as a shock.
“Leading up to the diagnosis, initially I thought I had no symptoms, but when I look back now, I realise I may have had a few, but nothing that would have sparked a red flag for me.”
Looking back, Adrienne recognises that she “was fatigued all day”, despite regularly getting nine or ten hours of sleep.
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“I had also gone through some significant life changes at the time, and was trying to figure out what was going on with my life,” she reflected.
The 31-year-old was also losing hair at the time, but attributed this to major changes underway in her life.
“I noticed my hair falling out six months prior, but I had just had some huge life changes, so I figured it was a stress response,” she recalled.
“The other thing I would say, maybe it was a symptom of it, was that I had inconsistent bloating, which always went along with where I was in my menstrual cycle, so I never thought twice about it.“
It was nothing painful or out of the ordinary, so I would think much of it.
The other symptom she experienced was intermittent night sweats, but she initially dismissed those, too.
“They were very inconsistent,” she said. “In the days leading up ot my period, I would get these night sweats, and I figured it was just a fluctuation in my hormones.”
Bloating may happen if a tumour disrupts digestion
|GETTY
Bloating is recognised by major health bodies, like Mayo Clinic, as a non-specific sign of bowel cancer that strikes when a tumour disrupts digestion.
Although night sweats are not a typical sign of early bowel cancer, they can occur if the disease is more advanced.
For other victims of the disease, like Chris Kirt, complications like night sweats can become hard to ignore.
Yet while these symptoms have a plethora of causes, authorities believe greater awareness of the warning signs plays a vital role in saving lives.
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