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Agence France-Presse

Actor Chadwick Boseman’s death from colon cancer at the age of 43 has highlighted the growing rate of this disease among younger adults, who are often diagnosed at later stages.
According to Kimmie Ng, director of Dana-Farber’s Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center in Boston, it shows how important it is for more research into what is driving the rise, as well as greater awareness and screening.
“We are losing way too many young lives to this disease without a clear understanding of what the causes are,” she said.
The suspicion is that environmental factors, such as shifts in diets and lifestyle, could be behind the increase.
Chadwick Boseman plays police detective in run-of-the-mill thriller
While studies are under way, US statistics are alarming, and the trend is similar in Europe.
Since 1994, US cases of young-onset colorectal cancer – defined as a diagnosis before the age of 50 – have increased by 50 per cent.
Colorectal cancers will affect more than 140,000 Americans in 2020, with under-50s accounting for about 11 per cent of colon cancers and 18 per cent of rectal cancers.
By the year 2030 the rates among this age group are expected to double and quadruple, respectively.
As a result, the American Cancer Society recently updated its advice, saying most people should get screened at 45, not 50.
Symptoms to watch for include changes to bowel habits that last more than a few days, such as diarrhoea, constipation or narrow stool.

They also include feelings of having to pass stool that don’t go away by doing so, rectal bleeding or blood in the stool, abdominal pain, weakness, fatigue and weight loss.
For David Thau, it took shooting pain in the abdomen – the worst he’d ever felt in his life – for him to go see his primary care doctor in June 2019.
The Washington-based political consultant, then 34, had been ignoring the blood that had recently been appearing in his stool.
“I’ve always been the kind of person who just says, ‘Well, I don’t need to go to the doctor’,” he said.
A former high school athlete, he was otherwise healthy with no family history of colon cancer.
Thau’s doctor told him he might have an ulcer or appendicitis, so he checked into an emergency room.
Chadwick Boseman: why ‘Black Panther’ needed an African accent
A CAT scan detected a 7.5cm (three-inch) mass that almost completely blocked his colon.
He was diagnosed as having Stage 3C cancer, the last before a cancer has metastasised, and days later had surgery to remove the tumour.
Fortunately, surgeons were able to extract it using small incisions and he did not require an ileostomy – a surgical opening to a bag that holds stool.
For the next six months he travelled to Boston every other week for chemotherapy, working full-time throughout this period – an extra challenge for younger patients who aren’t retired.
“I had to freeze my sperm,” added Thau, since he and his wife were planning to have children and the treatment can cause sterility.


In February, doctors said his cancer was gone, but he still requires routine check-ups.
Ghazala Siddiqui, from Houston, went to an emergency room in March 2018 after finding it impossible to pass stool, despite using laxatives.
Doctors performed an X-ray on the mother of two, then 41, but misdiagnosed her case as severe constipation and sent her home.
It wasn’t until she approached a specialist that colon cancer was identified.
She needed 23 gruelling radiation sessions at MD Anderson Cancer Centre to shrink the Stage 3 tumour down to size, before it could be removed.
She also needed an ileostomy and a stool bag.
“It was very embarrassing,” recalled Siddiqui, who had been a fitness fanatic prior to her diagnosis.
Next came months of chemotherapy, and uncertainty as to whether her bowels would ever recover enough for the bag to be removed.
‘The physical part makes it fun’: Chadwick Boseman on playing Black Panther
Fortunately, it did, and in February 2019, the colon was surgically closed.
Siddiqui said the hardest aspect was that the radiation caused her to go through early menopause, causing hot flushes, loss of sex drive and ongoing anxiety.
After her experience, Siddiqui’s four sisters underwent screening.
One had polyps the size of almonds which doctors were able to remove early, “which goes to show that screening is important,” she said.
Ng emphasised it was critical to catch growths early and to consider screening even earlier than 45 if there is family history of colon cancer or advanced polyps.
African Americans like Boseman are at higher risk than other groups, for reasons linked to disparities in access to care.
Colonoscopies are considered the gold standard of screening, but their invasive nature can discourage some people.
For this reason, Ng’s centre was working on what it hoped would be the next generation of blood and stool tests that might catch growths sooner.
Ultimately though, “the best screening test is the screening test that gets done,” she said.
“If somebody is having symptoms concerning colon cancer, they need to seek medical attention.”


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Wellness

Death of ‘Black Panther’ star Chadwick Boseman spotlights danger of early-onset colon cancer

US actor Chadwick Boseman was best known for playing the leading role in the 2018 Marvel film ‘Black Panther’. Photo: Handout

Chadwick Boseman, star of the groundbreaking superhero movie ‘Black Panther’, died at the age of 43 after a private four-year battle with colon cancer. File photo: AP

‘The physical part makes it fun’: Chadwick Boseman on playing Black Panther

Chadwick Boseman plays Black Panther and alter ego T'Challa in Marvel's Captain America: Civil War. Photo: Marvel 2016

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 04: Chadwick Boseman attends the screening Of Marvel's "Captain America: Civil War" hosted by The Cinema Society with Audi & FIJI at Henry R. Luce Auditorium at Brookfield Place on May 4, 2016 in New York City. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War..L to R: Black Panther/T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Vision (Paul Bettany), Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), and War Machine/James Rhodey (Don Cheadle)...Photo Credit: Film Frame..© Marvel 2016

Chadwick Boseman: why ‘Black Panther’ needed an African accent

Lead actor says an African accent is as classical as a British or a European accent

TOPSHOT - Comic book writer Stan Lee (L) and actor Chadwick Boseman attend the world premiere of Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther,” on January 29, 2018, in Hollywood, California. / AFP PHOTO / VALERIE MACON

Cast member Chadwick Boseman poses at the premiere of "Black Panther" in Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 29, 2018. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Chadwick Boseman attends the premiere of Disney and Marvel&apos;s &apos;Black Panther&apos; at Dolby Theatre on January 29, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. ( Lionel Hahn/ABACAPRESS.COM/TNS)

Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) talks of what type of king T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) can be for Wakanda, in "The Black Panther." MUST CREDIT: Marvel Studios

Cast members Chadwick Boseman and Lupita Nyong'o pose at the premiere of "Black Panther" in Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 29, 2018. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

American Chadwick Boseman, 41, stars in the title role in the 18th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – the first black superhero to get his own stand-alone movie. Photo: Marvel Studios

21 Bridges film review: Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman plays police detective in run-of-the-mill thriller

Chadwick Boseman in a still from 21 Bridges. Photo courtesy of STXfilms

From left: Chadwick Boseman, Keith David and J.K. Simmons in a still from 21 Bridges.

Chadwick Boseman in a scene from 21 Bridges (category: IIB), directed by Brian Kirk. Co-starring J.K. Simmons and Sienna Miller. Photo courtesy of STXfilms

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As his Hollywood career boomed, Chadwick Boseman was waging a private battle against colon cancer
The American Cancer Society recently updated its advice, saying most people should get screened at 45, not 50


Actor Chadwick Boseman’s death from colon cancer at the age of 43 has highlighted the growing rate of this disease among younger adults, who are often diagnosed at later stages.


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