My IBS turned out to be colorectal cancer – here are the symptoms I ignored

A 31-year-old mother has shared how she was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer after initially attributing her symptoms to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and stress.

Bri Mahon, who lives in Newport Beach, California, with her husband, Blake, and their twins, Banks and Brooks, has documented her cancer journey on TikTokwhere she has over 88,000 followers.

She recently went viral after describing the symptoms of colon cancer that she initially shrugged off, explaining that she had years of digestive issues that she believed were due to IBS.

Mahon said she ran blood tests, but nothing came up. She was mostly just annoyed and puffed up. Two years ago, however, she noticed a sharp increase in her anxiety and fatigue.

“I had panic attacks, and I think it’s because my body was really, really tired and going through what it was going through, growing a tumor,” she explained.

Last September, Mahon gave birth at 23 weeks and gave birth to premature twins, who spent four months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

She started noticing blood in her stool soon after, but she thought it was a combination of hemorrhoids during pregnancy and her IBS symptoms flaring up.

“I wasn’t even really thinking about what I was really going through,” she recalls. “I thought it was stress. I thought it was depression. I thought it was fear, kind of all these things coming up again. My fatigue was really bad, but again I justified it in my head since my boys are in the NICU.”

Mahon began to see blood in her stool more regularly and became even more concerned when the color changed from red to dark red.

“My urge to go to the bathroom had gotten a little out of hand,” she said. “I’d be insanely constipated or I’d go to the bathroom and just dark blood would come out.”

Mahon knew something was wrong, and her doctor referred her to a gastroenterologist, who immediately ordered a colonoscopy.

The specialist did 10 biopsies during the colonoscopy, and she was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common form in the US and the third leading cause of death for both men and women, according to the American Cancer Society.

The number of new cases among Americans under age 55 has increased from 11 percent in 1995 to 20 percent in 2019.

Early warning signs include blood in the stool, abdominal pain, and unintentional weight loss. However, these are often overlooked in younger age groups, with doctors instead thinking they are signs of another disease.

Mahon began the first of two rounds of chemotherapy and radiation this week. She also underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) prior to treatments, which will affect her fertility.

She said BuzzFeed News that once her chemo and radiation are complete she will have surgery to remove the remaining part of the tumor.

“I think the most shocking thing about my diagnosis is that I would never have guessed it was cancer,” she told the outlet. “Sure, I felt in a way that I wanted to get checked out, but at first I assumed I had IBS and nothing was wrong.

“Every time I thought about cancer, I didn’t picture an active, incredibly healthy 31-year-old with energy. It still feels very surreal to me to get my diagnosis.’

Mahon’s video describing her symptoms has been viewed more than 1.9 million times since it was posted on May 24.

Hundreds of people responded to the comments to offer words of encouragement and share their own cancer stories. Others asked questions about her diagnosis, some of which she addressed in a series of follow-up videos.

“I had stage 3 colon cancer when I was 25,” one person replied. “I am cancer free today at the age of 35. It will be fine! You got this!’

‘I had stage 3 colon cancer 6 years ago…I am 100% cancer free!!’ added another. ‘You’re going to do great!! I had almost the exact same symptoms. I have twins too!!’

“My friend had stage 3B colon cancer at age 25,” another person shared. Now he is almost 31. Colon cancer is so common.’