Stage 4 diagnosis after lied symptom claim for screening

stage 4 – Sydney Stoner, now 32, cycled through worsening constipation and diarrhea in her mid-20s and was bounced between doctors and elimination diets. When she was told she needed a referral to get screened, she lied that she had blood in her stool to qualify for a c

Sydney Stoner spent years living like nothing in her body was truly breaking.

Around 2019. when she was in her mid-20s and living an active. busy life in Little Rock. Arkansas. she started cycling between constipation and diarrhea. She was already juggling work as a professional theater actor and a part-time retail job. plus the habits that kept her grounded—cycling and CrossFit. And still, the digestive problems wouldn’t stop.

Stoner kept bouncing between doctors. including a primary care physician and a holistic doctor. thinking they would diagnose her with irritable bowel syndrome. She tried elimination diets, cutting dairy, gluten, and sugar. Some doctors told her to “watch her weight.” Nothing worked. Her days turned into a waiting game for relief that never came, even as symptoms worsened.

What finally made her push for answers was what she told the person on the other end of a phone call. Stoner said she had blood in her stool—one of the most common signs of colon cancer—so she could get screened sooner.

At the time, she was calling a gastroenterology care center and listing her symptoms. When she was asked for her age, Stoner said she was told she’d need a referral to get screened. She improvised. From Googling her symptoms. she said she learned that blood in the stool is typically considered more dire than stomach pain or changes in bowel movements. After she lied, she was scheduled for a colonoscopy right away.

She knew something was wrong once she started waking up from the sedation. “I’m pretty sure I heard them say ‘cancer,’” she recalled, adding that the doctors brought her husband into the room with her. “I knew that that wasn’t a good sign.”

Stoner learned that the colonoscope couldn’t even get a foot inside her colon because of a mass. She was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at 27. She said she didn’t respond much at first because she was still coming down from anesthesia.

“I was just in shock. I didn’t really say anything,” Stoner said. “When I finally ate some food”

—then the tears started flowing.

She was scheduled for PET and CT scans as well as tumor removal surgery one month later. The treatment began immediately. When she woke up from surgery, she had an ileostomy—a bag attached to her abdomen to collect waste that allows the colon to heal. A year later, it was reversed.

Her diagnosis changed as care continued. Initially, doctors told her she had stage 3B cancer and that it had only spread to a few lymph nodes. But once she moved to St. Louis and started care there, her scans found the cancer had spread to her liver and lungs, making it stage 4.

Then came rounds of treatment that reshaped her body and her everyday life. Stoner underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy, which caused cold sensitivity. “I had to wear gloves to even get into the refrigerator,” she said. “I had to microwave all of my drinks.”

After that, she did three rounds of radiation per lung, which led to no evidence of disease. Two months later. her blood work showed signs of cancer. and she underwent 12 additional rounds of a different chemo medication. which led to dizziness and nausea—symptoms she described as hard to live with. “It’s kind of like being drunk on a cruise ship, but not the fun drunk,” she said.

Since 2023, for over two years, she has been on a lower-dose maintenance chemo pill. But when her recent scans in October showed more progression of disease than her oncologist was comfortable with, she was put on more rounds of the second chemotherapy drug again.

The physical toll has been matched by the slow grind of time—time spent in appointments, recovery, and living with scan results that can swing the future.

Stoner said the near-never-ending treatments also brought financial and emotional strain. She and her husband had been kicked off their parents’ insurance, and she struggled to get scans or treatments approved until she could apply for disability in 2021. Now, she is on Medicare.

She also said she legally can’t work over a certain number of hours. She works part-time at a cat café, which she said is therapeutic. Her husband is a self-employed barber, and they pay for some of her treatment through a GoFundMe.

“There’s just this grieving your old life every day, which sounds really depressing,” Stoner said. “But you’re just not the same person after you get news like that.”

Despite everything, Stoner has turned her experience into advocacy—centered on screening, listening to symptoms, and pushing for more resources to fight the disease.

She said her friends and family have been a steady support during treatment. and so has the colon cancer community she found. In 2023, Stoner discovered the nonprofit Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC). It connected her to others diagnosed with colon cancer. and she learned about opportunities to present her story to Congress and advocate for more funding for colon cancer research.

She pointed to the urgency of that push, saying colon cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death in people under 50.

For young people who may have potential colon cancer symptoms. Stoner urged people to listen to their bodies—especially when they feel dismissed. “Especially young women. we are dismissed a lot. and you have to find a doctor that will do the test that you need. or even try Cologuard. ” she said. “A stool test that can detect existing cancer and requires a colonoscopy after a positive result.”.

She added: “It’s better to find out early because colon cancer is so preventable.”

Sydney Stoner colon cancer stage 4 colonoscopy chemotherapy radiation ileostomy PET and CT scans Fight Colorectal Cancer Fight CRC Cologuard Medicare GoFundMe cancer advocacy medical screening