Cherl revealed the five cancer symptoms she had overlooked.
“I would go three to four days without having a bowel movement and then diarrhea. This was in the early stages when if I had gone to the doctor and they did a colonoscopy, they might have seen the pre-cancerous polyps,” she explained.
While occasional constipation isn’t usually cause for concern, frequent occurrences could signal cancer.
Cherl experienced these symptoms for many years before her diagnosis, unaware she had cancer.
“All of my blood was going to my tumors,” she explained to her audience, detailing incidents of chest pain and dizziness.
When she engaged in physical activity that increased her heart rate, the chest discomfort would return. She added: “It felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. And anytime I would stand up, I would feel faint.”
@just.cherl 5 signs of colon cancer that I ignored #coloncancer #womenshealthcare #cancersucks #survivor #cancerswareness
Stomach aches are often the most common sign people associate with colon cancer, but given their frequency, they’re rarely linked to cancer.
“Every time I ate something, I would get sick. My stomach would just hurt. It came to the point that I became an introvert because I couldn’t go out,” Cherl explained.
“I couldn’t do that because who knows when I would have to excuse myself and go to the bathroom. If you have a stomachache after two out of three meals, there’s something wrong.”
Long before her cancer diagnosis, she attempted to donate blood with the Red Cross but was turned away due to low iron levels.
“Iron deficiency anemia is the most common extraintestinal symptom in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC),” writes Leonidas Chardalias, Ioannis Papaconstantinou, Antonios Gklavas, Marianna Politou, and Theodosios Theodosopoulos – researchers who authored a 2023 study on iron deficiency anemia in colorectal cancer patients.
“Inflammation associated with malignancy leads to functional iron deficiency via the hepcidin pathway, whereas chronic blood loss causes absolute iron deficiency and depletion of iron stores.”
“I just thought it was normal, and then later on, when the cancer progressed, the blood was really dark, almost black. I was thinking the whole time that I had an ulcer,” Cherl recounted, mentioning her previous hemorrhoid issues.
If you’ve been impacted by any of these symptoms and wish to speak confidentially, reach out to the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 or use their live chat service, available 24/7 every day of the year.