When Jenna Scott, then 31, was seven months pregnant, she began to experience troubling symptoms: rectal bleeding, nausea and abdominal pain. Her doctor assured her that hemorrhoids and discomfort were only part of the pregnancy. When her symptoms did not go away after giving birth, she received the shocking news: she had stage 4 colorectal cancer.
“I don’t understand how it happened to me and someone my age,” Scott, now 34, from Norcross, Georgia, said TODAY. “Cancer was not in my world.”
Scott is sharing his story to raise awareness about colorectal cancer in young black men.
“I am very focused on publicizing my community, the black community, because we don’t talk about it much,” she said. “We don’t really go to doctors as we should and access to healthcare is not so easy.”
Pregnancy symptoms never went away
When Scott started experiencing nausea and bleeding during pregnancy in 2017, she worried. But her obstetrician gynecologist put her at ease, saying that what she experienced was normal.
“He said, ‘Well, that comes with the pregnancy territory,'” recalls Scott. “I just got bored. Until my son is born and nothing stops. I was still in pain. “
She tried different types of birth control and still felt bad. Shortly after her son Cameron’s first birthday, she went to the primary care doctor, who heard her concerns, had blood tests, which were normal, and recommended that she visit a gastrointestinal doctor, who requested a colonoscopy.
“I told him what was going on, and he just looked at me and said, ‘You are physically fit. You are too young. We don’t know what that is, but we are going to rule out anything serious. ‘So that’s why I did the colonoscopy, “she said.
When she woke up from the procedure, the doctor told her what she had found and she did not believe it.
“He told me I had cancer,” said Scott. “We had built such a good relationship up to that point, I laughed and laughed … and said, ‘Really?’ I thought he was playing and then he got serious. And he said, ‘I would never joke about something like that’ ”.
So Scott felt “numb”. While doctors initially thought they got it early, Scott later learned that she had stage 4 cancer.
“Things went in through one ear and out through the other,” she said. “The doctor said, ‘Well, your situation is extremely rare because we can’t even get the best images on your CT scan because you don’t have enough body fat.'”
This was especially frustrating for Scott. She was athletic, young and ate healthy food – all the things she thought would protect her from colorectal cancer.
“I know it sounds funny, but I got angry at my body. I was like, ‘What are you doing to me?’ “, She said. “I was like, ‘I take good care of you and you are treating me that way.’ I did not fit into the ‘bubble’ of people who would normally fit into this type of disease ‘”.
Colorectal cancer in young adults
Although colorectal cancer in young adults remains rare, the American Cancer Society estimates that about 18,000 people under the age of 50 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2020. Since the mid-1980s, there has been an increase in colon cancer in adults of 20 to 39 years old and the rates of people aged 40-54 have increased since the mid-1990s, says the organization.
Black people experience colorectal cancer at rates about 20% higher than non-Hispanic white people and have death rates that are almost 40% higher, according to the American Cancer Society. SurvivorNet started Closing the Gap to raise awareness of racial disparities when it comes to cancer diagnosis, treatment and survival.
Symptoms of colorectal cancer include:
- Rectal bleeding
- Lack of iron
- Abdominal pain
- Narrow stools
- A need to evacuate
- Unexplained weight loss
Sharing your story to help others
Scott, who originally shared his story with SurvivorNet, felt it was important to talk about his experience so that other young people would not feel so alone. In support groups, she is usually the youngest person there. She spends time advising younger people with colorectal cancer to help them through the experience.
“When you go for your chemotherapy infusion, there is no one your age,” she said. “It’s difficult when you really don’t have anyone who looks like you or is your age that you can ask, ‘Well, how did you handle it?'”
After the initial diagnosis, Scott underwent a rigorous chemotherapy regimen and she also had surgery that removed one foot from her colon, two parts of her liver and her gallbladder. She developed a rare side effect where infected fluid had accumulated in her chest, back and abdomen and she had to drain it.
“That was difficult,” she said. “I was in the bathtub maybe five times a day, because hot water was my only relief from the terrible pain.”
She finished chemotherapy, but nine months later, the cancer came back and spread to her liver and lungs. Again, Scott underwent rigorous chemotherapy and developed a rash on his face because of it. She also underwent targeted therapy and two surgeries on the liver and lungs. Sometimes, stress and loneliness affect her.
“I’ve only met three other people since I was diagnosed that they were young like me and are all over the country,” said Scott. “It is a terrible thing and, in fact, we do not have many resources to help prevent this from happening.”
Scott will undergo chemotherapy for the rest of his life to prevent the cancer from spreading. Although she has undergone many therapies with sometimes severe side effects, she remains strong for Cameron and her husband, Derrick.
“I asked two things when I was going through the worst: Can I just watch my son grow up and grow old with my husband?” she said. “They are what I focus on.”