Healthy sisters from New Jersey are both diagnosed with terminal colon cancer at the age of 30: ‘Our lives are a nightmare’
A pair of sisters from New Jersey are both battling a ‘nightmare’ stage 4 colon cancer together after both were diagnosed with the disease in their 30s.
In February 2021, Eloisa Oquendo sought medical attention for severe lower abdominal pain. When doctors rushed the 37-year-old into emergency surgery, they discovered a ticking time bomb.
“Then they discovered the cancer,” she said. “The doctor came in, and I was alone, and told me I had stage four colon cancer.”
After previously being declared cancer-free, Ms Oquendo’s disease returned with a vengeance earlier this year. But this time she won’t undergo the treatment alone.
In March 2024, her sister Joyce Melo was also diagnosed with stage four colon cancer after undergoing routine surgery to remove her appendix.
Ms Oquendo said: ‘What are the chances of two sisters in a row getting the same diagnosis, which is almost unheard of?’
Eloisa Oquendo (right) and Joyce Melo (left), sisters in New Jersey, were both diagnosed with stage four colon cancer at age 37
The above graph shows the increase in colorectal cancer in Americans under the age of 50 over the past twenty years
Ms. Melo was 37 years old when she was diagnosed, the same age as her sister’s diagnosis three years earlier.
Ms. Melo told the local news station CRON 4: ‘Sometimes I still can’t believe this is our life, to be honest. It feels a bit like you’re living in a nightmare.’
In February 2021, Ms. Oquendo went to the hospital with extreme abdominal pain and was rushed into surgery when doctors discovered her stage 4 colon cancer.
Stage four colon cancer kills almost nine in ten patients within five years.
Ms. Oquendo underwent three more surgeries and 24 rounds of chemotherapy. She was told she was in remission.
However, earlier this year her cancer returned and she will undergo further chemotherapy treatments.
About three years later, in March 2024, Ms. Melo herself visited the hospital when she started experiencing lower abdominal pain.
Tests showed she had an inflamed appendix and the organ had to be removed.
Like her sister, doctors discovered cancer in Ms. Melo’s body and she was also diagnosed with colon cancer. At the time it was thought to be phase 1.
However, doctors soon discovered that the cancer had spread to her lungs and her status had progressed to stage 4.
Ms Melo wrote on Facebook that she had to immediately undergo an eight-hour operation, during which doctors had to remove part of her right lung to remove the tumor.
She now plans to undergo twelve rounds of chemotherapy, followed by a procedure to remove 80 percent of her colon to prevent the cancer from returning.
Three years after her sister’s diagnosis, Joyce Melo (middle left) received the same diagnosis: stage 4 colon cancer
The above shows the symptoms and their frequency in patients with early-onset colon cancer, in patients who develop colon cancer before the age of 50, and in late-onset patients, in patients who develop the cancer after age 50.
The sisters’ story comes at a time when colon cancer is on the rise among young Americans, with 50,000 people expected to die from the disease this year.
Rates among people under 50 have increased by about two percent per year since the early 2000s and the number of cases is expected to double between 2010 and 2030.
A number of factors are suspected of causing the emergence of the disease in young people: a diet of highly processed foods and energy drinks and obesity.
However, experts have noted an increase in the disease among Americans who are fit and otherwise healthy.
Now an emerging field of science suggests that the gut and the body’s microbiome – the body’s collection of beneficial bacteria – may play a role. And more recently, scientists suggested that high blood sugar levels could be a contributing factor.
As both sisters endure treatment and recovery, Ms Melo said: ‘Recovery has been incredibly challenging and I’m still not sure where I found the strength to get through it all.
“But you don’t really know how strong you are until you face the biggest battle of your life.”
It’s unclear exactly what caused both sisters to receive the same diagnosis at the same age, but research is starting to scratch the surface.
According to the Mayo Clinic, having a family history of colon cancer increases the risk of developing it by five to fifteen percent.
Mayo Clinic experts wrote, “If your family member with cancer is under age 50, your risk is even greater.”
And one Study from 2019 published in BMJ found that siblings of colon cancer patients were 70 percent more likely to develop the disease compared to those without any family history.
Additionally, the same cancer in two siblings may be due to a genetic mutation inherited from their parents, according to the American Cancer Society.
The ACS also noted that having multiple close relatives with colon cancer at a young age could be a sign of a familial cancer syndrome, which is also caused by inherited genetic factors.
As Ms. Melo battles the disease, she also faces financial struggles as her insurance does not cover her chemotherapy treatments.
Her sister Mrs. Oquendo told KRON 4, “It makes me angry. How does insurance not cover chemotherapy? Why isn’t that an option?’
The family has one GoFundMe for Ms. Melo with a goal of $20,000. About $9,400 has been raised so far.