At 44, I Received A Cancer Diagnosis I Never Saw Coming. Too Many Young People Will Get The Same One.

Generation Z, millennials and Generation X are more likely to get colorectal cancer – but funding cuts could see the search for a cure grind to a halt.

Nothing prepares you for the moment you’re told you have cancer.

But I’ll go one further. Nothing prepares you for telling other people that you have cancer.

I warned my wife, while getting in a cab after leaving a midtown Manhattan hospital post-colonoscopy, that what I was about to tell her was “not great.” The king of understatement, maybe. The newspaper reports taught me I was supposed to be “devastated.” I just had no idea what was going on. It felt numb.

The “not great” news came in August 2023 — colon cancer. I was 44 and in pretty good health. I went to the gym regularly and ran marathons. (OK, one marathon.) My diet was pretty good. My only symptom was blood in my stool. Easily ignored. But I’ll be forever glad I paid enough attention to get it looked at.

There was some good news. I could do something about it. I’m not going to say I caught it “early.” That’s the word every cancer patient wants to hear. But “early enough” is good, too.