A 20-year-old woman had waves of stomach pain for months. She was eventually diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer.

• Katie Davis, now 21, began experiencing intense waves of stomach pain when she was 20.

• Doctors initially suspected she had a benign ovarian cyst and told her to watch for symptoms.

• After experiencing chills and nausea, she had a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer.

Katie Davis lived the typical busy college student life when she first started feeling like herself. stomach ache.

Then a 20-year-old marketing major at Westchester University in Pennsylvania, Davis split her time between classes, her job at Playa Bowls, and her sorority. It was easy to ignore the pain in the upper right part of his abdomen because it was so intermittent and temporary.

“It was on and off, it would come in waves,” Davis, now 21, told Business Insider. “I would go without it for a long time, then it would come on and last only a few minutes, sometimes even a few seconds.”

Over time, when the pain did occur, it became more severe, sometimes causing the pain to double in size. Three months after she started, she went to a local urgent care while at her boyfriend’s family’s beach house. The facility did not have an ultrasound machine, and she was told based on her symptoms that this could be a problem. ovarian cyst I hope this situation will disappear after the next period.

His doctor suspected colon cancer before the biopsy

Davis was told to pay attention to the pain and go to the emergency room if she felt other symptoms, such as fever or nausea. That’s exactly what Davis did when he started feeling cold and vomiting at his parents’ house a few days later.

“This was the first time something serious other than an ovarian cyst had been brought up to me,” Davis said. According to the ultrasound and CAT scan, his colon was inflamed and appeared to have free fluid; this was a sign of potential infection, trauma, or cancer.

The emergency room doctor thought it might be Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, or in more severe cases, colon cancer. he planned colonoscopy.

“I didn’t think I would survive cancer or any really serious illness,” Davis said. The first clue that something was wrong was when he woke up from the procedure. He noticed that he was placed in a separate room from other colonoscopy patients.

The doctor who performed the procedure told Davis and his mother that the mass in Davis’ colon was “pretty positive” to be cancerous. “He said he’s been doing it long enough to understand,” he said.

Shortly after, Davis was diagnosed. stage 2 colon cancer.

“I didn’t really know what to think or feel,” Davis said when she learned of her diagnosis. “I was absolutely numb and confused at first, like, ‘How did I get this?’ like.”

Treatment was delayed due to side effects such as vision loss

After his diagnosis, Davis had surgery on his colon and was soon required to begin three months of chemotherapy. However, side effects made its treatment difficult.

“I couldn’t tolerate the harsher chemotherapy,” Davis said. overdeveloped Fatigue, nausea and neuropathyHe said he felt like he had “pins and needles” in his hands every time he encountered temperature changes.

The most worrying side effect was vision loss. “My vision would go completely black,” Davis said. His family investigated the drug oxaliplatin, which can cause vision problems in some patients. Davis also found: Colorectal Cancer Alliance He said hearing similar stories about (CCA) and common side effects helped him learn about alternative treatment options.

Davis was given only oral chemotherapy medication and his treatment was extended from three months to six months. The only positive thing was that he no longer had to go back and forth for treatment because he could take it anywhere.

Meanwhile, he still attended college classes as often as possible, even though his professors knew about him. colon cancer diagnosis. “My boyfriend lives there, all my friends live there, so I tried to be there as much as possible,” she said. “I tried to keep up with my work as much as I could, but it was definitely hard to do schoolwork when I felt as bad as I did during chemotherapy.”

He’s happy to listen to his body.

Davis finished chemotherapy in June 2025 and was declared cancer-free shortly thereafter. From now on, you will have a blood test every three months and annual colonoscopy.

Now a senior, she works as a marketing intern at a financial consulting firm and is trying to make plans for after graduation. He said finishing treatment made him feel “excited to be back to normal again” and return to normal college life without worrying about doctor appointments or side effects of treatment.

Looking back, he’s grateful he noticed the warning signs early enough. “Most of my doctors said that most people my age or at my stage would not have the symptoms that I had that let me know something was wrong,” she said. “I’m glad I learned to listen to my body.”

This is his biggest advice to young people. similar or mild symptomsColon cancer has recently become the leading cause of death from cancer in people under the age of 50. Joining CCA and colon cancer Facebook groups can also help raise awareness of potential symptoms, he said.

Whether you’re worried about symptoms or actively seeking treatment, “You’re really not alone going through this,” she said. “There are other people who are going through this and can help you.”

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