And my story is far from unique. <\/p>\n
In young people, the incidence of colorectal cancer, which is what colon cancer is grouped within, is rising. Generation Z, millennials and Generation X are more likely to develop it during their 30s and 40s than earlier generations, which is worrying enough. <\/p>\n
But it comes at a time when cancer experts are alarmed by historically significant cuts in federal budgets, largely driven by the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on \u201cwoke\u201d (The New York Times wrote<\/a> in September, \u201cTrump Is Shutting Down the War on Cancer\u201d), and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s anti-science beliefs jeopardizing<\/a> breakthroughs. <\/p>\n If you speak to doctors, patients, survivors, and pretty much anyone involved in the field, they\u2019re nervous.<\/p>\n Illustration: HuffPost; Photo: Graeme Demianyk<\/p>\n The person getting colorectal cancer, according to Dr. John Marshall, clinical director of oncology for Georgetown University Hospital and chief medical consultant at the nonprofit Colorectal Cancer Alliance, is someone \u201cwho\u2019s trying not to get cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n Marshall is based in Washington, D.C., which is \u201ca young city to begin with,\u201d and populated by \u201cpeople who are very aware, and very educated, and this is a lot of who we\u2019re seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo family history. They\u2019re in their 30s and 40s, they are sensitive to their symptoms\u2026so they\u2019re fit,\u201d he told HuffPost. \u201cThey frequently are exercisers. They\u2019re frequently aware of their diets and what they\u2019re eating, and exposure to things.\u201d<\/p>\n Colorectal cancer really is trending younger<\/a>. The phrase you often hear is \u201cyoung onset.\u201d High-profile examples include \u201cDawson\u2019s Creek\u201d actor James Van Der Beek, who was diagnosed<\/a> with colorectal cancer at the age of 47. \u201cBlack Panther\u201d star Chadwick Boseman was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2016. He died of the disease four years later at age 43.<\/p>\n While the death rate from colorectal cancer has, for decades, been falling in older adults, deaths have been increasing among young people since the mid-2000s. In 1995, 11% of cases occurred in people 54 years or younger. By 2019, that had grown<\/a> to 20%. Cases of colon cancer among Americans ages 20 to 34 are projected<\/a> to increase by 90% by 2030.<\/p>\n The trend is why guidelines now suggest people begin screening for colorectal cancer \u2013 usually a colonoscopy or stool test \u2013 soon after turning 45, not 50. (Author\u2019s plea: if you are in your mid-40s and haven\u2019t been screened, please figure it out now with your primary care physician.)<\/p>\n Experts say the surge in colorectal cancer could have something to do with changes in people\u2019s gut bacteria, which can be affected by a bunch of things: diet, antibiotic use, microplastics and exposure to environmental chemicals. <\/p>\n I\u2019d like to know; of course I would. Too many Pop-Tarts as a kid? Overindulging at college? A steak too many while training for that one marathon? <\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, we all don\u2019t know,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n And yet, despite the trend, treatments are largely not moving on. Twentysomethings are getting the same care as men and women in their 60s did 25 years ago. Other cancers are streets ahead in terms of treatments. Breast cancer now has far higher cure rates as a result. Colorectal cancer is frozen in time.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of the reason why I\u2019m still giving the same post-operative treatment in colon cancer that I have been giving for 20 years \u2013 and that may be the only cancer where that\u2019s true \u2013 is that the pharmaceutical industry sees risk,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n This is where the federal government steps in, funding the research that the pharmaceutical industry can\u2019t imagine will yield a profit. Or at least it should. <\/p>\n Between the end of February and mid-August, funding ceased<\/a> for 383 studies by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation\u2019s primary medical research agency. More than 100 of the canceled grants were for cancer research<\/a>. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), ranking member of the Senate Health Committee, has said<\/a> the \u201cwar on science is an attack against anyone who has ever loved someone with cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n While Congress has pushed back, the Trump administration wants to shrink the agency\u2019s yet-to-be-approved budget by $18 billion, or nearly 40%<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cancer campaigners argue that federal government funding is crucial. The American Cancer Society notes<\/a> that federally funded research is one reason the cancer death rate has dropped 34% since the early 1990s.<\/p>\n For its part, the White House has criticized<\/a> the NIH for \u201cwasteful spending, misleading information, risky research, and the promotion of dangerous ideologies that undermine public health.\u201d<\/p>\n Marshall said some of the most important discoveries, like immunotherapy, emerged from federally funded science that \u201cthen gets taken up by industry to monetize it.\u201d <\/p>\n He added, \u201cThe investment in federally funded research has been an incredible engine of innovation over the decades. So the threat is all around us that we will come to a screeching halt.\u201d <\/p>\n It couldn\u2019t come at a worse time, especially since clinicians and researchers are excited about emerging treatments for colorectal cancer. In any case, federal government backing gives cancer patients and survivors something you\u2019d struggle to put a monetary value on: hope. All of us want to beat this disease and thrive.<\/p>\n Illustration: HuffPost; Photo: Diana Zepeda<\/p>\n What people don\u2019t really know about cancer is how lonely it is. There\u2019s the heavy lifting of treatment, but you also feel like people are worried about being awkward in your presence and saying a clumsy thing. I think it\u2019s part of the reason why I looked for humor in this terrible business. <\/p>\n \u201cThis terrible business\u201d is the phrase I used to describe my cancer, in a mock Victorian English accent, because it sounds like a euphemism Winston Churchill would use (I was reading a biography of the wartime British leader when in treatment). I know no one else is laughing. Maybe other Cancer Guys. But it\u2019s also just a way to say, \u201cIt\u2019s OK. You can be normal with us.\u201d<\/p>\n When I spoke to Diana Zepeda, I felt she understood this gallows humor. Diana, a finance professional from Washington, D.C., was 33 when she was \u201cfrozen with terror\u201d by her colorectal cancer diagnosis eight years ago. Chemotherapy, surgeries and radiation followed. It\u2019s been a rough, serious journey. But one of the first things she made clear to me is not to take what she says too seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very much not a media-trained or polished person, and I joke around a lot,\u201d she said. Diana recounts how she\u2019d mentioned in an interview that she thought her early symptoms \u2013 largely stomach cramps \u2013 were just because she was eating lunch regularly from a food truck. <\/p>\n \u201cThe headline, everywhere, was \u2018Woman Blames Her Cancer On Food Trucks,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI was mortified.\u201d<\/p>\n For Diana, science can\u2019t wait. <\/p>\n \u201cI was 33, and I\u2019m 41 now,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I really expected to get to my 40s, and I\u2019m living long enough where I get to confuse, \u2018oh, is this due to chemo, or is it I\u2019m just aging now?\u2019 So I feel like if I could just hold on long enough \u2013 two, five more years \u2013 I can just live long enough to see the cure.\u201d<\/p>\n She recognizes she\u2019s benefited from previous advances, especially as a woman and person of color. <\/p>\n \u201cAny other time in history, there\u2019s no way I\u2019d have survived. It\u2019s the only time in history where I\u2019m still alive. Right now. I\u2019ll take it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Illustration: HuffPost; Photo: Liz Healy<\/p>\n Liz Healy, of New York, was 45 when she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and kidney cancer in 2022. A mother, grandmother and an executive at firms including IBM and Deloitte, she had no symptoms beyond more bloating and gas than normal. While on vacation with her family in Vermont, she got hit by an out-of-control skier and broke her tailbone. Scans discovered the cancers and that they had spread throughout her body.<\/p>\n \u201cMy life changed in a heartbeat,\u201d she said, detailing the surgeries, multiple rounds of chemotherapy and clinical trials that have left her body \u201cbeat up in so many more ways than I ever imagined.\u201d I spoke to her just after she took part in her fourth New York City Marathon. She didn\u2019t make it past mile 12 as her leg gave out. The cancer had metastasised to her femur.<\/p>\n In February, Liz participated in an immunotherapy clinical trial in Boston, hoping it would end \u201cjust playing Whack-a-Mole\u201d with more surgery and chemotherapy. The trial didn\u2019t work for her, but the prospect of new treatments and the federal government funding science helps keep her going.<\/p>\n \u201cYou feel seen. That my life matters,\u201d she said of taxpayer support for cancer research. \u201cI love this country, and the fact that federal funding is being spent on something that could potentially save my life and allow more time with my child\u2026 you feel like someone gives a shit about me.\u201d<\/p>\n Illustration: HuffPost; Photo: Jessica Acosta<\/p>\n My treatments were fairly traditional: surgery and chemotherapy. But even the old-school approach was elevated by occasional advances.<\/p>\n The tumor in my liver was zapped by \u201cablation,\u201d a technique that\u2019s only been in use since the 2000s that deploys focused radiation to burn the thing out. It\u2019s much less invasive. <\/p>\n Every three months, I take a circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) test that checks whether any fragments of a tumor are bouncing around my bloodstream. That was only available around a year before I was diagnosed, and it spotted the liver tumor recurrence before the scans. <\/p>\n But others have borne witness to treatments that approach the miraculous.<\/p>\n Jessica Acosta, a writer from San Diego, was 29 when she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. At first, her symptoms \u2013 constipation, blood in her stool \u2013 were written off as irritable bowel syndrome. But Jessica had been diagnosed with Lynch syndrome, a genetic condition that increases the risk of cancer. So she pushed hard for a colonoscopy. It found a 6-centimeter mass.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t even 30. I was 29,\u201d Jessica said. \u201cI had just started figuring out a career. My wife and I were recently new to San Diego. We were finally finding our footing in our community, and then all of a sudden it was\u2026 nope.\u201d<\/p>\n The diagnosis sent her on a remarkable journey. Because of the Lynch syndrome, Jessica\u2019s type of tumor meant immunotherapy was an appropriate treatment. Her oncologist told her about the treatment that revs up the immune system to attack the cancer. \u201cUp until this point in my life, I\u2019ve never heard that word before,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n![\"Graeme](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6944647e260000c8d68377d1.jpg\")
Graeme Demianyk and his wife, Louise, and their dog, Marple, days after receiving his cancer diagnosis. <\/p>\n![\"Diana](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/69446483260000b7d68377d5.jpg\")
Diana Zepeda and her mom.<\/p>\n![\"Liz](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/69446476260000c3d68377cb.jpg\")
Liz Healy with her daughter, Ella, and husband, Jim.<\/p>\n![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6944647d260000c8d68377cf.jpg\")
Jessica Acosta in Washington, D.C., campaigning for funding to help find a cure for colorectal cancer.<\/p>\n
![\"Marissa](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/69446477260000bdd68377cd.jpg\")
Marissa and Micah Lio on their wedding day.<\/p>\n![\"Micah](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/694464731900004fd67f496b.jpg\")
Micah Lio during his 25th round of chemotherapy.<\/p>\n