Colorectal Cancer Alliance

"Just four months after getting engaged and days after buying my dress, I found myself sitting in a doctor’s office hearing the word “cancer.” What should have been a season of cake tastings and seating charts, quickly turned into surgeries and treatment schedules.

I underwent surgery to remove a tumor from my sigmoid colon, followed by four rounds of chemotherapy to treat Stage III Colon Cancer. Through it all, my medical team focused on helping me reach one important milestone: my wedding day. The treatments were physically and emotionally exhausting, but I held on to the hope that I would still be able to walk down the aisle.

Despite everything cancer put my body through, I walked down the aisle not just as a bride, but as a survivor.

Today, I share my story to remind others that colore**al cancer can affect young people and that early detection can save lives. I’m especially grateful for the nurse practitioner who listened to my symptoms and encouraged me to get a colonoscopy, despite my young age. That decision helped catch my cancer early enough for treatment to be successful.

If something feels off, don’t ignore it. Advocate for yourself. Early detection can save your life." - Michelle G.

Colore**al cancer is the #1 cause of cancer related death in adults under 50.

Let's put an end to this trend. Your gift is matched 2X during the month of June. Make a gift and double your impact 👉 https://bit.ly/26-NCSM-FB

Colore**al cancer is the #1 cause of cancer related death in adults under 50. Colore**al cancer is not an old man's disease.

Let's put an end to this trend. Your gift is matched 2X during the month of June. Make a gift and double your impact 👉 https://bit.ly/26-NCSM-FB

"March 22, 2024 is a date I will never forget.

I was diagnosed with stage IV colore**al cancer, and the only symptom I had was blood in my stool. No pain. No other signs. Nothing that would have made you think something serious was going on. But I trusted my gut, pushed for a colonoscopy, and that decision changed everything.

From there, my life became a series of treatments and milestones: I had a lung resection to remove a wedge of my right lung where the cancer had spread. I went through 5 rounds of chemotherapy and completed 25 sessions of radiation.

It was aggressive, and there were moments that tested me in every way. But I stayed focused on getting through it - one step, one treatment, one day at a time.

Alongside my medical treatment, I supported my body with functional medicine, which helped me stay physically strong and keep going when things felt overwhelming.

On October 21, 2024, I rang the bell.

I am forever grateful to Memorial Sloan Kettering and my gastroenterologist for advocating for me, guiding me, and standing by me through every phase of this.

If sharing my story helps even one person, it’s this:
Listen to your body. Even subtle changes matter.
Advocate for yourself, even when it feels uncomfortable.
And hold onto your mindset, it can carry you through more than you think.

This is my story. And I’m still here." - Stephanie R.

Today is the start of Young Survivors Week (June 7th-13th)! Young Survivors Week is a time to honor the strength, resilience, and experiences of those diagnosed with colore**al cancer at a young age.

A diagnosis can change everything, but young survivors continue to navigate treatment, recovery, advocacy, careers, relationships, and life with determination and courage.

This week, we're celebrating young survivors! 👏

For young survivor colore**al cancer resources, visit colore**alcancer.org, or give us a call on our free Helpline at 877-422-2030.

"When they say "like father, like son," they don't usually mean cancer diagnoses, but that's exactly what happened to my dad and I. Fifteen years apart, same diagnosis: Stage IIIb colon cancer.

Now, we're both survivors.

Being a survivor means living through unfathomable challenges.

For me, it meant tears on my first wedding anniversary, the day I was diagnosed. Attending my mom’s funeral on crutches, straight out of bowel surgery. Running a business on chemotherapy (not recommended).

I took it in stride. My GI doctor had told me, "There are going to be speed bumps."

Days are long. You wonder if you will ever feel normal again. And you do. That final chemotherapy brings elation. Ringing the bell brings joy to you and your caregivers.

But not every patient gets the same chance.

The Alliance's just-announced adaptive clinical trial platform, KLEOS, is changing that. A part of Project Cure CRC, KLEOS will bring new treatments to patients faster. KLEOS will help make more survivors.

Your donation today, matched dollar for dollar, makes it possible.

The idea I’ve lived by is that tough times don't last, but tough people do. And there’s nobody tougher than colore**al cancer survivors.

Happy National Cancer Survivors Day!" - Zed D.

"P.S. Today also marks the beginning of the Colore**al Cancer Alliance’s Young Survivors Week. As a young survivor myself, it’s alarming that colore**al cancer has become the deadliest cancer for people under age 50. Your donation today will advance urgently needed prevention, patient support, and research."

Double your impact 👉 https://bit.ly/26-NCSM-FB

Today, June 7th, is National Cancer Survivors Day. We're celebrating every person who has faced cancer with courage, resilience, and hope.

To anyone currently battling cancer: if you’re still here, you’re surviving.

Visit colore**alcancer.org for colore**al cancer resources.

"In May 2021, at 32 years old, I was diagnosed with stage IIIC colore**al cancer. Wondering what the “C” stands for? In my case, it meant the cancer had spread to eleven lymph nodes, which meant I needed chemotherapy.

I’m a nurse, a military spouse, and at the time I had a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a 6 week old baby. Life was busy.

Long before my diagnosis, I experienced symptoms that were often explained away as hemorrhoids, IBS, stress, or postpartum changes. But I continued having blood in my stool, changes in bowel habits, fatigue, persistent abdominal pain, and a quiet feeling that something wasn’t right.

One of the biggest lessons this experience taught me is that our health cannot be placed on the back burner. Advocating for yourself and pursuing answers should never feel dramatic or unnecessary because early detection saves lives. True advocacy means educating yourself, asking questions, working together with your doctors and nurses as a team, and sometimes even seeking a second opinion.

Cancer also taught me how important mental health is. Fear and uncertainty can quietly consume people, especially during treatment and while waiting for results. There will be dark days, but they won’t last forever. Lean on your faith, ask for help, and let people show up for you.

I’ve also realized how easy it is to search other people’s stories for certainty. What mutations did they have? What treatment worked for them? What diet did they follow? Those questions are natural when you are desperate for hope. But no two cancer journeys are identical. Encouragement from others is powerful, but for me, true peace has come from God.

Helping others while walking through my own battle changed me. Volunteering, supporting families, and being present for people helped pull me out of dark places mentally. There is something healing about realizing life still holds purpose, even during difficult seasons.

Five years later, I am still here. Deeply grateful. And always willing to listen, answer questions, or walk beside someone else through hard moments." - Monica T.

June is National Cancer Survivors Month. Visit https://bit.ly/26-NCSM-FB to double your gift this June.

"I was diagnosed with re**al cancer in January 2024 at 44 years old, which was a complete surprise for this former college athlete. In the years prior to my diagnosis, I experienced erratic bowel movements and extreme fatigue, which I mistakenly attributed to stress, working a demanding job, and hormones. I waited until I started seeing blood regularly before I finally saw a GI specialist, who sent me for a colonoscopy almost immediately. He diagnosed the cancer on the spot, and it turned out to be Stage IIIB re**al cancer. 2024 consisted of a port insertion, 4.5 months of FOLFOX chemo, 6 weeks of Capecitabine chemo alongside daily radiation 5 days a week, a surgery to remove my tumor and place a temporary ileostomy bag, and 72 days later having the ileostomy reversed and my port removed (but who was counting?!).

Survivorship has been an ordeal that I was not prepared for. I am lucky enough to have an amazing medical team, and an incredible husband, puppy, family, friends from near and far, and colleagues to support me throughout this nightmare. Another important - and I believe lifesaving - choice that I made for myself early on was to try and remain as healthy as possible. I exercised almost every day, however I could, during the treatments and have kept it up during survivorship. The version of me in survivorship is a very different girl than she used to be. Treatments caused complete menopause almost overnight, incredible fatigue, and navigating a body that behaves very differently than it used to, and figuring out how to listen to that body as she learns to recover and figures out a different way to live. I made the mistake of not listening to her once; I will never do that again. If something seems off, get yourself to a doctor. Don’t make assumptions. You’re too important." - Janine S.

June is National Cancer Survivors Month. Visit https://bit.ly/26-NCSM-FB for colore**al cancer survivor resources and support, or to make a gift that will be doubled throughout June. Prefer to talk with someone? Call our free helpline at 877-422-2030 to connect with a member of our Cancer Care Team.