JJ Singleton thought he was losing weight because of his new diet and exercise regime.
But it was really a symptom of stage two colon cancer.
Singleton now raises awareness of the disease, which more young people are getting.
When JJ Singleton noticed a throbbing pain in his abdomen in May of 2015, he dismissed it as a pulled muscle.
After all, the 27-year-old’s goal for the year was to “get his life together,” and so he started 2015 doing CrossFit workouts with his old football coach.
Singleton, now 36, told Business Insider that he put his worsening symptoms down to his new healthy diet and squat regime.
“I was a typical guy who was stubborn and didn’t think I ever needed to go to the doctor,” he said, even when he lost five pounds in a week, pooped blood, and shivered in 90-degree heat after a CrossFit competition in the August of that year.
His body “crashed” after the competition. “Every time I ate or drank anything, I would have intense pain in my stomach and I would throw up. I was maybe using the bathroom once every couple days because I was barely having any bowel movements,” he said.
“I would lay in bed and look at my symptoms, and the bottom was always colon cancer or cancer. I was just like, ‘That can’t can’t be me,'” he told The Patient Story.
Singleton was diagnosed with stage two colon cancer
Singleton put up with these symptoms for a month before his mom forced him to go to a doctor in early September.
“By that point, I could put my shirt up against my stomach and you could see the tumor throb through the skin. As soon as the doctor looked at that, he was like, ‘You got to go get a scan right now,'” Singleton said.
A scan on September 4 identified a mass in his colon, and he was sent for a colonoscopy as soon as possible. After the colonoscopy on September 8, he was diagnosed with stage two colon cancer, the third most common cancer in the US.
His colon was 98% blocked by the tumor, so he was rapidly sent for surgery. On September 16, surgeons removed 80% of his colon and 36 inches of his small intestine.
A genetic predisposition to colon cancer
Because Singleton was so young and had no known family history of colon cancer, doctors sent him for genetic testing.
He tested positive for Lynch syndrome, which is a genetic condition where a mutation in certain genes increases the risk of developing colorectal cancer by 20% to 80%.
Singleton shared his story with BI to raise awareness about colon cancer, with rates among younger people on the rise. Although Singleton’s case was genetic, scientists don’t know why the disease is affecting more people under 50.
“I joined a man’s group called Man Up to Cancer, and they gave me the confidence to tell my story,” he told BI. “It’s important to get people educated about colon cancer even though they don’t like talking about their bowel movements.”
“It sounds hallmark-y but advocacy gave me a purpose in life. It makes me feel like I’m not just wasting away as a cancer patient,” Singleton said.
Despite chemotherapy, the cancer came back
Colorectal cancer is usually treated with surgery to remove the cancerous tissue, and then chemotherapy to kill any cells left if the cancer is large or has spread to other tissues.
Singleton had twelve rounds of chemotherapy between November 2015 and April 2016. Six weeks into treatment, he felt the throbbing in his abdomen again.
The cancer had spread to his abdominal wall and lymph nodes throughout his body.
“For the next six months, I went through four different chemo cocktails or so, but they all failed. The cancer actually grew around my stomach and intestine,” he said.
Finally, he was put on a trial treatment, which had helped other people get to the point where they were considered cancer-free.
For Singleton, it hasn’t had that effect. Instead, it works just well enough to keep his cancer from spreading. But, he said, “I’m still alive, and I’m able to do a lot more now than I was because of it.”
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