Katie Dutton was diagnosed with rectal cancer at 33.
At 35, Katie Dutton is already a rectal cancer survivor, an ordeal that started with seemingly benign symptoms doctors initially dismissed.
She was told to change her diet and was treated for hemorrhoids before a colonoscopy finally revealed a mass at the end of her digestive system.
“It was shocking — it was just pure shock,” Dutton, a nurse who lives in Tacoma, Washington, tells TODAY.com about her diagnosis.
“I had no risk factors.”
In May 2022, Dutton suddenly started experiencing constipation. She’d never had that issue before, but while on vacation in Las Vegas, she noticed she didn’t have a bowel movement for a week.
In December of that year, she saw a big gush of bright red blood after a bowel movement and then consistent bleeding almost every time she went to the bathroom.
When Dutton mentioned those warning signs to her doctor, she was told it was probably hemorrhoids that were acting up because of the constipation. The physician’s advice was to eat more fiber.
U.S. & World
“When I started having symptoms, (colorectal cancer) was sort of on my radar, but still I was like, ‘Nah, probably not,’” she recalls.
“Bright red blood in the stool can be caused by hemorrhoids so I kind of took them at their word on that. I thought it was hemorrhoids.”
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
In June 2023, Dutton went to a new primary care doctor who referred her to a gastroenterologist. A colonoscopy revealed a large polyp in her rectum that finally set her diagnosis in motion.
Colorectal cancer symptoms
Rectal cancer starts in the rectum, the last six inches of the digestive system where stool is stored until it passes through the anus, according to the American Cancer Society.
It accounts for about 30% of new colorectal cancer cases in the U.S.
Doctors are seeing the disease more and more in younger people for unknown reasons, says Dr. Laila Rashidi, a colorectal surgeon at MultiCare in Tacoma, Washington, who treated Dutton. Half of Rashidi’s patients are under 50, she notes.
Dutton has no family history of colorectal cancer or any other risk factors like eating lots of red and processed meat, smoking or leading a sedentary lifestyle, Rashidi points out.
“Katie did not have any of those. So that tells you it can happen to anybody, and we still don’t know why,” Rashidi tells TODAY.com.
“She’s healthy. She’s young. She’s active. She eats well. She exercised every day, she’s in health care. She’s the perfect example of someone that you would never think of.”
Constipation is one of the warning signs because if the tumor gets large, stool can’t pass easily, Rashidi says. Sometimes, just the liquid portion of waste can pass around the tumor, so some patients report what they think is diarrhea, she adds.
Rectal bleeding is the "red flag symptom” to be concerned about, Dr. Daniel Chung, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, previously told TODAY.com. He’s not involved in this case.
If the blood is darker in color, it's had time to get oxidized so it’s usually coming from higher up in the colon, Rashidi says. If it’s bright red, that means the bleeding is happening low in the rectum, which could be hemorrhoids or cancer, she adds. The bleeding can be painless, so always look at your stool and watch for blood mixed with it, Rashidi advises.
“Listen to your body. If something is different, don’t take it lightly, especially with bowel function, blood or just bloating,” she says.
Changes in bowel habits, unexplained weight loss, anemia, abdominal pain, narrow stools and an unproductive urge to have a bowel movement are also colorectal cancer symptoms.
'Rule out cancer first. The stakes are too high'
When Dutton’s polyp was biopsied, it came back as precancerous. But doctors were suspicious and kept testing because of an enlarged lymph node near her rectal area.
Dutton officially found out she had Stage 3B rectal cancer on Black Friday in November 2023. She was just 33 years old.
“Part of me was relieved because I think the waiting and the not knowing is the hardest part of cancer,” she says.
“Part of me was shocked, and then part of me was just ready to hunker down and do something.”
She underwent four months of chemotherapy, but was relieved she didn’t need radiation to her pelvis, which would have left her unable to have children.
In May 2024, Dutton underwent surgery to remove all traces of the mass and most of her rectum. Rashidi then connected the healthy parts of her digestive system back together.
The nurse had two more months of chemotherapy and is now being monitored with imaging every three months and lab work, including a lab test to check for circulating tumor DNA.
Dutton urges others to be aware of the symptoms and advocate for themselves.
“If I could do it again, I would have been a lot more aggressive with asking for a colonoscopy much earlier. But even me, it wasn’t on my radar. I was like, ‘I’m probably fine. I’m so young.’ But that’s not the case anymore,” she says.
“Rule out cancer first. The stakes are too high.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
