Woman, 32, Recalls Early Signs of Colorectal Cancer Doctors Dismissed: ‘I Was Sent Home With Tylenol’

When 32-year-old Alondra Gibson first started experiencing persistent abdominal pain and changes in her bowel habits last year, she chalked it up to stress.“In 2025, I was going through a lot of different changes,” Gibson tells TODAY.com. So when she noticed these symptoms, she wasn’t too concerned — and never suspected anything serious.Gibson, who’s based in New York and Dallas, was also the healthiest she’d ever been. She was exercising daily and working as a certified fitness coach, yoga teacher and nutritionist. Persistent Abdominal Pain and DiarrheaIn October 2025, Gibson had just returned from a trip to Indonesia when her abdominal pain and diarrhea became more severe. Initially, she assumed it was from routine changes. “I was traveling; I hadn’t been eating consistently,” says Gibson.When the pain worsened after a kettlebell workout class, she suspected the issue was muscular. Gibson also thought her menstrual cycle could be playing a role. “I normally get diarrhea before and after my period, so I thought maybe I’m going through hormonal changes,” she says.In the months that followed, Gibson tried to get back to her normal routine.“The symptoms persisted all the way into 2026. So on January 1, I went to urgent care and told them I was having bad abdominal pains and consistent diarrhea,” she says.Gibson was told to go to the emergency room for testing. There, she had an ultrasound, which came back clear. “I was sent home with Tylenol and told to see a GI doctor,” says Gibson.Alondra Gibson at a yoga retreat before receiving her cancer diagnosis.Courtesy Alondra GibsonSymptoms Mistaken for Pelvic Muscle StrainGibson’s gastroenterologist ordered a plethora of labs to rule out possible diagnoses. “My stool test did come back positive for a stomach virus, but within a few days I should’ve been clear,” she says.However, Gibson’s abdominal pain and diarrhea persisted. And tests for other gastrointestinal disorders came back negative.“One of the things that we thought it could be was a pelvic floor muscle strain. So I started going to pelvic floor therapy, and I went for probably four to six weeks, but things were not changing,” says Gibson. Eventually, the pain became so severe that she was unable to exercise at all. “I could not continue with my normal life. I couldn’t even work.”After a Clear CT Scan, Colonoscopy Reveals Two TumorsGibson eventually got a CT scan. According to the radiology report, the scan was clear.“I’m very in tune with my body. So I was like, ‘Okay, no, there has to be something wrong,’” she explains.Gibson finally asked her doctor to order a colonoscopy. “It revealed that I had two tumors that were almost completely obstructing my colon,” she says.The tumors were missed on her CT scan nearly two months earlier. “I spent those six to eight weeks in a lot of discomfort,” she recalls.Gibson says her gastroenterologist was just as confused. “He was like, ‘How was this missed? Because it was very much visible in the CT scan,’ And he reached out to the radiology team to change the report, but he took complete ownership,” she says.Then, her doctor told her that it was probably cancer. “I completely blanked out. I was in shock, because I was probably in the best shape of my life then.”Alondra Gibson and family before surgery.Courtesy Alondra GibsonStage 3 Colorectal CancerImmediately after her colonoscopy, Gibson was scheduled for surgery to remove the tumors and a foot-long section of her colon.Biopsies revealed she had adenocarcinoma, the most common type of colorectal cancer. The tumors had been sitting next to her liver, which was partly covered in cysts, suggesting metastasis.“At that point, it was a 90% chance that I had a Stage 4 colon cancer,” says Gibson. Six weeks after her colon resection, Gibson had surgery to remove part of her liver. Surprisingly, the biopsies were clear. “To this day, we have no idea what happened to that part of my liver,” she says.Gibson was staged down to Stage 3 colon cancer, which has a higher survival rate compared to Stage 4.Alondra Gibson receiving chemotherapy treatment.Courtesy Alondra GibsonChemotherapy and RemissionAfter her colon and liver surgeries, Gibson underwent six months of intensive chemotherapy. Due to the risk that it could cause infertility, she froze her eggs right before treatment.Gibson celebrated her 32nd birthday while receiving an infusion of FOLFOX, a chemotherapy regimen, delivered through a port in her chest. “I was a zombie. I was sleeping the entire time. I didn’t have much (of an) appetite. I had intense fatigue and then a lot of hair thinning, so I had to cut my hair,” Gibson says. Gibson finished her last round of chemotherapy this September. “I had multiple scans, and everything came back clear. I was able to ring the bell in October,” she says.Currently, Gibson is in remission with no evidence of disease, which means that there is no detectable cancer in her body. “For the next three years, I’ll be getting regular CT scans every three months, then I’ll also be doing blood tests which look for proteins from the cancer,” says Gibson.Recently, the 32-year-old has been able to start working out again, with the encouragement of her husband.“I like to move my body, so for me, that was very important,” says Gibson. Exercise has also helped with her peripheral neuropathy, or numbness in the toes and fingers, which can result from chemotherapy.Although she hasn’t been able to return to her full routine or coaching yet, Gibson is getting stronger every day. “I’m actually training for the New York City Half Marathon this upcoming March,” she says.Colorectal Cancer Rates Rising in Young AdultsA recent study in NEJM Evidence shows that colorectal cancer rates are rising among all age groups in the U.S., contributing to an increase in the overall incidence for the first time in over two decades.Young people are being hit especially hard. Between 2013 and 2022, colorectal cancer rates climbed 3% every year among adults ages 20 to 49, per American Cancer Society statistics. Many of these young patients, like Gibson, were diagnosed before they qualified for routine screening. The ACS recommends adults at average risk start getting colonoscopies at age 45. In addition to being young and otherwise healthy, Gibson had no risk factors for colorectal cancer. “I did genetic testing, and it was not genetic. I don’t have anyone in my family who has ever had colon cancer or cancer in general,” she says.What led to Gibson’s diagnosis was her relentless pursuit of answers to explain her unusual symptoms — a pattern she’s observed among other young patients. Alondra Gibson with a fellow cancer survivor.Courtesy Alondra GibsonGibson uses CancerBuddy, a non-profit peer support app to connect cancer patients and survivors. “I started to understand, through our group chat, that you can have so many different symptoms. People think it’s always blood in the stool, but it isn’t just one specific thing; it really varies,” says Gibson.Recalling the day she learned she had cancer, Gibson says an unexpected feeling came over her.“I remember, I was almost in relief. I know that sounds crazy,” she says. “I was just happy that we understood what was happening because I knew that there was something wrong.”