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Stage 4 at 34: A woman’s journey from early-onset colon cancer to patient advocacy
20 March 2024
Together with the Colon Cancer Coalition, Labcorp is on a mission to fight colon cancer. We're raising awareness, highlighting resources and promoting early detection to save lives.
When Bridgette O’Brien first noticed a mild pain in her side five years ago, she thought nothing of it. She was in her early 30s, starting a new job and living in a new neighborhood with her husband and two young children. She felt excited about starting a new chapter.
A few months later, she noticed blood in her stool and started to feel concerned. Still, she didn’t expect the news she eventually received after a visit to her healthcare provider: a stage 4 metastatic colon cancer diagnosis at 34 years old.
Nor did she expect her experience with cancer to lead her to passionate advocacy for preventive care and the colon cancer community. Read on to learn more about Bridgette’s journey.
Coming to terms with a colon cancer diagnosis
Bridgette received her diagnosis after a colonoscopy revealed a mass in her colon, and MRI and CT scans showed additional tumors in her liver, meaning her cancer had already begun to spread.
“At diagnosis, I had a large mass in my colon, as well as 15 lesions in my liver,” says Bridgette. “Shock doesn’t even begin to describe what I felt.”
Bridgette is one of many people facing serious cases of colon cancer at a younger age. For the first time, the American Cancer Society (ACS) is reporting that colorectal cancer (CRC) has become a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in adults under age 50 (first in men and second in women). In 2023, the ACS reported that 20% of diagnoses in 2019 were in people under age 55, approximately doubling the rates of colorectal cancer among this demographic since 1995.
“I had no family history of colon cancer, which also made the news particularly shocking,” she says, adding that her early-onset diagnosis qualified her for genetic testing, which she encouraged her family to pursue.
In the fall of 2019, Bridgette started chemotherapy, and in January 2020, she underwent surgery on both her colon and liver.
“As shocking as the diagnosis was, I thought it’d be a one-and-done year,” she admits. Twelve rounds of chemo later, she spent three “blissful” months thinking she was in the clear—that this was “just a weird blip” in her life that she could move past.
Fast-forward to August 2020, when Bridgette received more difficult news: a liver recurrence of five more tumors.
“At this point, I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy battle,” she says. “We were in it for the long haul.”
Taking recurrence in stride
In the summer of 2020, the world was only just beginning to enter the COVID-19 pandemic. No guests were allowed in hospitals at that time, leaving Bridgette to endure multiple rounds of chemotherapy and surgeries without the support of visitors.
In January 2021, she underwent liver surgery and 12 more rounds of chemo. Three months later, two more tumors appeared in her liver.
One year later, she needed another liver surgery. Less than two months later, two new tumors appeared in her lungs. In July 2022, she underwent lung surgery, followed by radiation on her lung in December.
In 2023, Bridgette’s healthcare team found new spots in her lungs and her liver, requiring a liver ablation.
To help guide her treatments throughout the years, her healthcare team tested for multiple biomarkers (e.g., gene mutations such as KRAS and BRAF mutations). They also set up meetings with Bridgette to review her results and discuss how these insights might inform her treatment options.
“It was a lot to understand and process. Due to my specific gene mutations, I do not qualify for certain immunotherapy and other treatment options,” she explains. “This limits my treatment options to only some of those currently on the market today. It also limits me with clinical trials. This information is very important to understanding your diagnosis and treatment options.”
Genetic testing can identify if a particular patient is a candidate for certain treatments that may be more effective than others. It can also show when a certain treatment would not be as effective for that patient. So while it may rule out certain treatments, particularly newer ones like immunotherapies and those being evaluated in clinical trials, it can help providers and patients select the most effective treatment for each patient, and avoid treatments that may not be as effective.
Five years, dozens of tumors, multiple surgeries and hundreds of hours of chemotherapy later, Bridgette is still standing strong. She credits “the three F’s” in helping her persevere: faith, family and friends.
“Along with my outstanding medical care team, I am incredibly blessed to have an amazing support system that helps me and my family navigate the various challenges and obstacles that have come up over the past few years,” she says. “Whether it’s a meal train, a shoulder to cry on, fundraisers, prayers or care packages, my support network helps carry us through.”
Finding her voice as a patient advocate
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After her first year of cancer treatment, Bridgette began connecting with the colon cancer community.
“I felt it was my duty to help other cancer patients by sharing my story and my learnings along the way,” she says.
In 2021, she joined the Colon Cancer Coalition’s patient advocacy board to help provide a patient-first perspective to research and fundraising efforts.
“No one is going to care as much about your self-survival as you are,” she says. “As a patient, it’s important to ask questions, really understand all the treatment options available to you and understand your exact diagnosis and mutations. It may take a few rounds of meetings with your medical team to fully understand, and that’s normal. Learn about the support that’s available to you, whether it’s through work, financial aid, rides to treatment, insurance and so on. There are resources available, but you need to advocate for yourself and your needs.”
When she was first diagnosed, she was told she had less than a 5% chance of surviving longer than five years. Five years later, she stands strong as a survivor, a mother, a wife, an advocate.
“At 39 years old, I have more work to do, and more life to live,” she says.
The importance of early colon cancer screening
Early detection is key for any disease, but as rates of colon cancer in younger people continue to rise, it’s more critical than ever to understand your screening options and the testing resources available to you.
Guidelines now recommend CRC screening for people with average risk starting at age 45 (five years earlier than previous recommendations), and there are multiple ways you can screen, including stool-based fecal immunochemical tests (FIT) and colonoscopy. Labcorp’s ColoFITTM Home Collection Kits are available to purchase or may be available for free with insurance through your healthcare provider.
To learn more about early detection and your colon cancer screening options, visit our Count on You Colon Cancer.