You thought your constipation was normal but it was stage 4 colorectal cancer

By Andria Devlin and A. Pawlowski -

Andria Devlin

, a 47-year-old woman, was shocked when she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer five years ago.

The child educator did not present risk factors, nor a family history of the disease.

Like many people, she put off reviewing her symptoms when they appeared.

Now Devlin, who lives in Lawrence, Kansas, shares her story with TODAY:

This is not an easy topic to talk about, but it is very important.

People shouldn't be embarrassed to death, and I think people are dying because they don't want to go to the doctor and talk about the symptoms of colorectal cancer.

It took me a long time to go and say that something is not right.

I have always been a human being who has lived with constipation, so irregular bowel movements have always been my problem.

In 2016, I noticed mucus in my stool.

It was different, but not worrisome.

Then I started having intermittent bleeding in my stool.

That, along with my constipation, was the equivalent in my brain of having hemorrhoids.

I had no stomach problems, no weight loss, no fatigue and all my lab studies looked fine.

There was nothing to indicate that I had a tumor growing in my rectum other than constipation and bright red blood in my stool.

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I hadn't thought much about colorectal cancer.

Because I should?

I was in my 40s, active, exercise, eat well, and don't smoke.

There were absolutely no risk factors, no family history that made me think, "Oh, I probably have cancer."

That's why I took too long to go to the doctor.

It took me getting to the point where I was bleeding every time I had a bowel movement for me to get sick of it.

I remember mentioning it to my obstetrician, who said to get checked out.

Adria Devlin is trying to raise awareness about the disease.

"It's really sad" that the idea of ​​having a colonoscopy makes people uncomfortable, she said. Courtesy Andria Devlin

That was in May 2016, but I didn't go to the doctor until January 2017. He did a rectal exam and found no hemorrhoids, but gave me a suppository to see if that would help.

He slowed the bleeding, but didn't stop it.

So I scheduled a colonoscopy.

I remember waking up from it and hearing the doctors say, “We found something very small in your rectum.

It's a pretty ugly fabric."

My dad died of esophageal cancer, so when someone says 'ugly tissue' I know what it looks like.

There were photos along with the colonoscopy result, and it certainly wasn't the happy, healthy, bright pink tissue you imagine your insides to look like.

The doctor called me the next day, on my son's 15th birthday, and told me the tissue was cancerous.

The tumor was significant and blocked 80-85% of my rectum.

I was immediately sent to oncology at

.

Tests revealed it was stage 4 colorectal cancer. It had spread from my rectum to both lungs.

I was undergoing chemotherapy treatment two weeks after learning of my diagnosis.

In the end, the chemotherapy took care of almost all the cancer in my lungs and reduced the size of the tumor.

I had rectal cancer surgery in August 2017.

But there was a spot on my right lung that didn't get small, it just stayed.

Further analysis showed that it grew only slightly.

I received stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to that spot in February 2018. I had five sessions over five days.

You do not move during this therapy.

Doctors make a mold of your body so you lie down in a very specific position each time.

I have two children, so I liked to think

while the machine was doing its job, like “

lasers ” attacking my cancer.

In January 2020, I had a scan that revealed another spot on my right lung, so I went through another round of SBRT.

Adria Devlin sharing a happy moment with her sons Sean and Conor, her husband Brandon and their pet Lulu. Courtesy Andria Devlin

Today, I'm just celebrating the fact that I'm still alive.

It's miraculous that someone with stage 4 colorectal cancer can tell at five years.

I'm still undergoing scans.

Cancer had already affected my family and when that happens there is a change because life is precious and you don't really recognize it until you have a life changing diagnosis.

When I was first diagnosed, I thought, "You have to see your oldest son graduate from high school."

So I've just been checking those boxes.

My next box is in May - my youngest is graduating from high school, so that's what I'm looking for.

I will keep adding boxes to my list, like college graduations.

I'm just creating a lot of memories and raising awareness.

People don't want to go to the doctor and say, “I have mucus in my stool.

What is it about?".

But people shouldn't die of shame.

If I can talk about my experience and that gets a person to the doctor before I went, I've done my job.

This interview has been edited and summarized for clarity.

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