(Matt Gilmour, Lillian Roy/ CTV News) — An 18-year-old from Laval is among an increasing number of young adults and teens to be inflicted with colon cancer.
Justin Di Narzo says knowing the symptoms could be the difference between life and death.
“It started at 16 years old. I was experiencing constipation and blood in the stools,” Di Narzo told CTV News.
After some tests, he was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. It’s an aggressive disease considered extremely rare for his age, according to pediatric hematologist and oncologist Catherine Goudie.
“It is definitely not the first diagnosis that you think about when a kid walks in feeling tired, feeling bloated, having low red blood cells,” she explained.
It’s so rare that Di Narzo was transferred to adult care at the Royal Victoria Hospital, where Dr. Jamil Asselah reports seeing more and more younger patients.
“I have two patients, 20 and 18 years old, which is unique,” said the oncologist. (…)