At 42, Danielle Ripley-Burgess has survived colon cancer three times. She was first diagnosed at 17, then at 25 and then again at 39.
I don’t have any family history, and there was no explanation at first, but I found out I have Lynch syndrome, a genetic disease that puts you at a higher risk for several cancers, with colon and rectal cancers at the top of that list. I’m the first in my family to have the mutation.
If you’re seeing something with your body that’s uncomfortable and weird, and you’re not ready yet to tell a doctor, tell somebody — a friend or family member. Don’t sit in that place of: something is wrong with your body, and you don’t know what it is. Don’t sit there alone. Don’t downplay what you’re seeing.
