A Mother’s Fight Against Advanced Colon Cancer

December 2nd, 2009 by colon-cleansing-adviser

Advanced colon cancer hope

Advanced colon cancer is normally untreatable but the following heart warming story gives hope to us all. In the fall of 2003, Bridget Beranek, a 44-year-old married woman and mother of two young daughters, was preparing for a busy holiday season filled with family affairs, parties and shopping. So when she started to lose her appetite and energy, Bridget at first chalked it up to holiday stress.

When the New Year came and went, but Bridget’s symptoms were still present, she recognised it was more than stress. After several visits to her primary care doctor, Bridget saw an internist, and received a colonoscopy. In March 2004, she was diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer that had spread to her liver.

“I know it sounds cliché, but I couldn’t believe this was happening to me,” said Bridget. “Scheduling a colonoscopy was not a priority for me as I was under 50 and lived a healthy life style. I ate properly, didn’t drink or smoke, and went on a regular basis for a mammogram. One thing I discovered from this experience is that colon cancer is a disease more people, particularly women, need to be better informed about.”

Advanced Colon Cancer Can Be Beaten With New Drugs

The American Cancer Society reports that colorectal cancer, generally referred to as colon cancer, is the second-leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, second only to lung cancer. It’s also the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women.

Risk factors for colon cancer include a family or personal history of the disease, intestinal polyps or chronic inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, a high-fat diet, and being age 50 or older. Symptoms might include alterations in bowel habits, abdominal soreness, vomiting, tiredness, blood in the stool or unexplained weight loss, although a lot of people are diagnosed without any symptoms.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends men and women over age 50 who have an average risk for colon cancer undergo screening. Higher-risk patients, such as those with a family history of the disease, should talk with their doctors about when they ought to start screening.

Luckily for Bridget, a new treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer had just been sanctioned by the FDA, only weeks ahead her diagnosis. Her oncologist decided to treat her with a combination of traditional chemotherapy and a targeted therapy called Avastin® (bevacizumab). Though she sometimes has side effects such as tiredness, Bridget’s cancer has reacted to the treatment and she is doing well. She is grateful to be able to spend time with her husband and girls, and to practice her favourite hobby, photography.

Usually, metastatic colorectal cancer patients go through surgery followed by chemotherapy. Today’s targeted therapies, which are designed to attack cancer cells in a more particular way than chemotherapy, provide an extra tool for doctors to use in treating this disease. Avastin, for instance, is an angiogenesis inhibitor, which means it interferes with the blood vessels that feed cancer tumors, to help prevent tumors from maturing and spreading to other parts of the body. Avastin is approved for use in combination with intravenous 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy for first-line treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

It is crucial to keep in mind that Avastin has been linked with side effects in colorectal cancer. Severe side effects happen seldom, but can include gastrointestinal perforation and slow or incomplete wound healing and blood clot complications. Other more usual side effects seen in clinical trials include nosebleeds, high blood pressure, proteinuria (too much protein in the urine, which may be a sign of kidney damage), weakness, pain, looseness of the bowels, and a reduced white blood cell count.

As everyone is different, it is not possible to forecast what side effects an individual may get. If you have queries about side effects or treatment advanced colon cancer, talk to your physician or another member of the health-care team.