A Florida nurse who couldn’t stop burping has revealed that her symptom was caused by undiagnosed late-stage cancer.
In 2021, Bailey McBreen, 24, started burping up to 10 times a day – something “not normal” for her.
She put off the symptom for months, but was checked when it progressed to acid regurgitation and “excruciating” stomach cramps.
Ms McBreen, who worked out several times a week, was eventually diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer – which came as a ‘huge shock’ to her and her family.
While burping as a sign of cancer may seem bizarre, colon cancer can cause blockages in the digestive tract, leading to excess gas.
Bailey McBreen, 24, was diagnosed this year with stage 3 colon cancer. Her first symptom was excessive belching. Now she will undergo treatment until the end of August to combat a tumor pressing on the upper part of her colon
Mrs. McBreen works as a nurse in Florida (left). Her profession helped her realize that something was not right and that she had a bowel obstruction. She underwent emergency surgery in January of this year. She will receive chemotherapy until the end of August
“The first sign that something was wrong – although I didn’t know it at the time – was when I started belching excessively,” Ms McBreen told NeedToKnow.
“I burped 5 to 10 times a day. This was not normal for me.’
Although she underwent emergency surgery, Ms McBreen will receive chemotherapy until the end of August. She now encourages others to listen to their bodies when something isn’t right.
This type of cancer is exceptionally rare in people as young as Ms McBreen, affecting only two in 100,000 people between the ages of 20 and 24 between 2015 and 2019.
Farming started last year, which Mrs. McBreen didn’t think much of at first. Last February, however, she also started experiencing acid reflux, which doctors attributed to anxiety.
It wasn’t until the following January that Ms McBreen felt something was really wrong – she was in ‘excruciating’ pain and found herself unable to go to the bathroom. She also had no appetite.
Drawing on her experience as a nurse, Ms McBreen was confident there was some sort of ‘obstruction’ going on in her body – but she had ‘no idea’ it was actually a tumor until a CT scan found it grew in her colon.
“Never in a million years have I thought that a vague symptom I had was actually stage three bowel cancer,” Ms McBreen told NeedToKnow.co.uk.
“It really was an out-of-body experience. I felt like I was sitting in the corner of the room watching me get diagnosed. Time seemed to slow down and my heart rate sped up. I was in complete shock.
I remember the first thing I could say was “I’m not ready to die.” All I could do at that moment was cry and mourn the life I had and mentally prepare for what’s to come.”
Ms McBreen underwent emergency surgery in January. She is now focusing on spreading awareness and fighting the disease in addition to her support system. “My diagnosis has impacted my life in every possible way. I don’t know if I will ever fully come to terms with being diagnosed with such an aggressive late stage cancer. But I refuse to let it define me. I’m doing everything I can to fight this disease.’
Prior to her diagnosis, Ms. McBreen said she was the healthiest she had ever been. She trained five to six times a week. Now she still tries to be active and pay attention to what goes into her body
After her diagnosis at the end of January, she discovered the strange connection with regurgitation. The tumor was located higher in the transverse colon, just below the other organs in the abdominal cavity. It is the longest and most mobile part of the large intestine.
This then caused an intestinal obstruction.
Ms McBreen thinks the tumor triggered the onset of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a chronic digestive disease that occurs when the esophageal sphincter can’t close properly. When that sphincter can’t close, stomach acid travels up into the esophagus, causing heartburn, belching, and difficulty swallowing.
“GERD was a symptom in my case because my tumor slowly caused a complete bowel obstruction,” Ms McBreen said. “The result was that my food didn’t fully digest and got ‘stuck’ over my tumor, causing reflux and belching.”
“Excessive belching isn’t your textbook sign of colon cancer, but my oncologist told me it was probably the beginning of my symptoms.”
“Anything that is new to you, even if it is otherwise considered normal, must be dealt with. I didn’t like my farmers because it was ‘normal’. It’s important to listen to your body,” Ms McBreen said
Before she got cancer, she led a “very healthy” lifestyle – which is one of the reasons her diagnosis came as such a shock.
“For the 10 months leading up to my diagnosis, I was actually the healthiest I’d ever been,” Ms McBreen said.
She trained five to six times a week for at least 14 months.
Ms McBreen underwent emergency surgery in January to remove the tumor before starting chemotherapy the following month. She will receive this treatment until the end of August.
Ms. McBreen is just one of many young people diagnosed with colon cancer, the third most common form of the disease diagnosed in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute.
A 2023 report from the American Cancer Society states that the number of colon cancer cases in Americans under age 55 has increased from 11 percent of all cases in 1995 to 20 percent in 2019.
In the same study, researchers estimate that 153,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with colon cancer this year. This includes about 52,000 deaths.
Of those cases, 13 percent would be in people under the age of 50, a nine percent increase in cases within that age range since 2020.
Ms McBreen now wants to share her story to raise awareness for other people with unusual ‘warning signs’.
“Anything that is new to you, even if it is otherwise considered normal, must be dealt with. I didn’t like my farmers because it was ‘normal’. It’s important to listen to your body,” she said.
“My diagnosis has impacted my life in every possible way. I don’t know if I will ever fully come to terms with being diagnosed with such an aggressive late stage cancer. But I refuse to let it define me. I’m doing everything I can to fight this disease.’