Featured Image Credit: GoFundMe
Topics: Cancer, Health, Life, Colon cancer
Callum Jones
Warning: This article contains discussion of cancer which some readers may find distressing.
A Pennsylvanian woman has shared the one symptom doctors kept 'dismissing' before she was diagnosed with stage four cancer.
Rylie Toomey, from Mechanicsburg, was enjoying life as she was putting in the preparations for her wedding and also training for a half marathon.
But you know when you feel something isn't quite right with your body and, well, that's exactly what Rylie felt.
Advert
She had experienced stomach pains on and off for a few months, but doctors initially told her it was because of constipation.
However, the pain only worsened, to the point where Rylie was yelling in agony while waiting in an emergency room back in April.
She told Today: "In my head I was like, I think I'm going to die - that's how much pain I was in. I felt like I was being stabbed, and my belly was super bloated, too. It felt like I was just going to explode."
Rylie was eventually diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, which is one of the fastest rising types of cancer in people under the age of 50 in the US.
"When you hear, ‘You have cancer,’ you're just like, that can't be right. That can't be me because leading up to this, I was so healthy," Rylie explained.
"To hear that I had colon cancer just didn't make sense, just because you feel like colon cancer is linked to unhealthy people or people who eat unhealthy or the elderly. I just was not expecting that at all."
Factors such as obesity and a poor diet, that includes sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods, can contribute towards the risk of developing colon cancer.
However, none of that was relevant in Rylie's case, which made her diagnosis so surprising.
And because of her age and the fact she had no family history of colon cancer, Rylie feels she was quickly 'dismissed' by doctors.
"I felt like they weren’t looking too far into it. Just because I was so young, they weren’t going to do a colonoscopy," she told Today.
"I didn't feel like it was that urgent to them when it felt super urgent to me."
Because of ongoing treatment, Rylie has had to postpone her wedding, which is now scheduled for June 2026.
She continued: "It's definitely something that keeps me going right now. It's kind of hard to stay positive in situations like this, but this is something that's bringing me joy and keeping me going."
Rylie emphasized the importance of 'pushing for answers' when it comes to health, adding: "I just don't want anybody to ever go through something like this. I think this happened for a reason so I can help others."
A fundraiser has since been set up to 'help ease the burden of this journey' for Rylie, you can donate here.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.