People under 50 also at risk of Colon Cancer

After experiencing excruciating abdominal pains for seven months, Tori Riley of O'Fallon was told by her mother to get an ultrasound and cancer was then discovered. Doctors initially thought that her pain was related to acid reflux because she was just 24 years old. But after getting the ultrasound done, she learnt that there were eight tumors in her liver. The tumors were a result of cancer in her colon.

Her mother Lisa Medders, 49, said Tori had stage IV colon cancer and had only four to six months to live. Her diagnosis brought extreme unhappiness for her family members. She died in August 2014 at the age of 26 and her death left her mother in shock.

After some time, Tori's mother gathered enough courage to raise colon cancer awareness and has created the Team Tori Foundation. "After I lost her, I decided I had to do something to help other people so I set up the foundation to bring awareness, education and tangible help for other colon cancer patients", said Medders.

Medders said that the foundation will provide significant help to colon cancer patients and will also educate youths about colon cancer. People often believe that the right age to get screened for colon cancer is 50, but Medders said that this perception now needs to be changed.

Dr. Susan Laduzinsky, a radiation oncologist at the Cancer Treatment Center in Swansea, said colon cancer is often diagnosed in people older than 50, but more cases are now emerging in patients younger than 50 years old. According to Laduzinsky, fanily history could be the biggest factor in that. People at the highest risk must go for earlier colonoscopies. A colonoscopy provides the best way to detect colon cancer.