Doctors thought my back pain was creaky joints… it was actually a golf ball-sized tumor in my colon

It may sound strange, but Mark Swanson had been looking forward to his surgery for months.

The minor surgery, scheduled for June 2020, would finally repair a common injury to his backside that for the past 18 months had caused a “nagging” pain that would sometimes flare up and keep him from sleeping.

The problem was not life-threatening, but caused enough problems on a daily basis that it affected his daily tasks.

He certainly never expected to wake up with a cancer diagnosis.

Instead of repairing a minor wound, the procedure resulted in his doctors discovering a two-inch tumor in his rectum; it was colon cancer.

Mr Swanson first visited doctors in December 2018 due to persistent pain he was experiencing in the lower left side of his back.

He was diagnosed sacroiliac joint problem – or improper movement of the joints in the lower back.

Doctors made this diagnosis after a hands-on examination and X-ray, he said.

He was given over-the-counter painkillers. But when the pain didn’t subside, they prescribed him stronger medications.

This still didn’t work, so doctors ordered a radiofrequency ablation in January 2020. A procedure to kill the nerves around his lower back to eliminate the pain.

This would later turn out to be a procedure he did not need.

After the ablation, Mr Swanson said the pain returned, which led to him being sent to a neurologist – who found nothing.

His GP then referred him to a colorectal surgeon as he tried to rule out possible causes of the problem.

That surgeon diagnosed him with an anal fissure after “sticking his finger up my ass” and scheduled him for surgery, the U.S. Air Force official said.

The operation was intended to repair the anal fissure – a small, benign tear in the anus that affects one in 10 adults – but when doctors started the operation they found no tear.

On June 30, 2020, Mr. Swanson went in for his scheduled surgery to stitch the cleft back together.

But when he woke up, doctors told him they couldn’t perform the procedure because they discovered he didn’t have an anal fissure at all, but the then 35-year-old had one A 6.5 cm tumor in his rectum that seemed to grow through the wall of his intestine.

After undergoing additional tests, the following month it was determined that Mr Swanson’s cancer was stage three colon cancer – a diagnosis with a 65 per cent survival rate.

Mr Swanson, who lives in Ohio, told DailyMail.com that he broke down and cried when the doctor told him.

He said: ‘I felt like my life was over. The doctor just came in, told me I had cancer, and left. It felt cold and clinical, like it was another day at the office for him, but for me it was life-changing.”

He was prescribed 10 rounds of chemotherapy and 35 rounds of radiation to shrink the tumor.

But his cancer did not respond to treatment, so he had to have his anus, rectum and the lower part of his colon removed while doctors tried to eliminate the cancer. This was carried out in May 2021.

This led to him being fitted with a colostomy bag – or a bag on the side of his body that collects waste from the intestines – which Mr Swanson described as ‘life-ending’ and left him ‘severely depressed’.

After visiting several doctors, he was eventually told he could use a method called colostomy irrigation – which involves flushing the intestines with water every day to clear out the waste rather than letting it out slowly into a bag deflate.

He was declared in remission in 2021, but earlier this year scans revealed two nodules in his lungs and doctors told him the cancer had returned.

He has now had a further five rounds of radiation to reduce their size and is waiting for the results of a scan to find out if the spots have shrunk.

He was offered chemotherapy, but was told the chance of success was only 50/50, so he refused the treatment.

Mr Swanson told this website: ‘Every day I question that decision.

‘Did I make the right decision? What is going to happen now? There are so many unknowns.”

He added that he often wonders whether his situation could have been prevented if the cancer had been discovered when he first visited doctors in December 2018 to complain of pain in his back.

He said: ‘Would it have gone through to phase three? Would I be in the position I am now in the fight against lung cancer and be terrified that it will show up in other places?

‘So much was done wrong in my diagnosis and I hope others can learn from my experience and look for all the signs and know that doctors are not the know-it-alls they claim to be.

He added: ‘I’m gay too, and to be told I had to have an ostomy bag felt life-ending to me – like I would be judged like no other.’

The placement of a colostomy is permanent for Mr Swanson, who will now have to irrigate his bowels every morning for the rest of his life.

Mr Swanson is just one of millions of young people to receive a shock cancer diagnosis, including Princess Kate, who last month revealed she had cancer discovered during abdominal surgery.

Early-onset cancer (diagnoses before age 50) is on the rise around the world and in the US, where it is increasing by about one to two percent annually.

Among people under the age of 40 in the US, cancer rates have risen 35 percent over the past four decades.

The crisis has baffled experts as they race to find an answer to the epidemic.

Bowel cancer is one of the most common diseases among young people, with cases increasing by 50 percent over the past two decades. It will become the most common cancer in this age group within the next four decades.

Due to the rise, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has changed the screening age from 50 years to 45 years.

But some patients argue that doesn’t go far enough to address the problem, and say the age should be lowered even lower so that health insurers will cover colonoscopies — the gold standard for screening — for more young adults.

Doctors had performed a CT scan in June 2019, Mr Swanson said, but reported that his “colon was normal”.

Mr Swanson said his medical team never recommended a colonoscopy before his surgery for an anal fissure and believes this was due to insurance issues.

‘They have [USPSTF] has lowered the age from 50 to 45, but that’s just ridiculous when you have this early epidemic in men in their 20s and 30s,” he said.

Despite the problems, Swanson said he entered a relationship shortly after being told he was in remission from cancer.

The pair are close, having known each other since growing up in Oklahoma, and Mr. Swanson says they now see each other about once a month.

They are both hopeful for the future.