Cancer Patients Share The Warning Signs That Alerted Them They Were Sick

I hate cancer.

Several of my loved ones were taken by it.

Several others battled it and won.

One of the best ways to beat cancer is to find cancer.

That is scary to think about.

Nobody wants to have it.

But if you do, better to know sooner than later.

So we must follow the signs.

Redditor sizzlingsi6 wanted to have an important discussion about cancer detection, so they asked;

"People who have cancer, what signs let you know that you were sick?"

Get Checked!

"I'm currently being treated for stage 3 breast cancer, and really didn't have any symptoms at all. Ladies, get your mammograms!!!"

- Dear-Rosemary

Breast Cancer Health GIF by INTO ACTION Giphy

Who knows?

"My two-year-old had diarrhea. Then two weeks later, it was even worse. The health department inspected my and grandma’s house to be sure we weren’t doing something wrong or I guess if we were living in filth. Grandma was absolutely offended! But nothing was noted. Three months later, she still had diarrhea. Ten months later, she was almost three, losing her hair and weighed 23 lbs."

"They finally found a tumor lodged between her liver and kidney. It was neuroblastoma. Her tumor was saved for further research. Doctors at the children’s hospital said the diarrhea was what saved her. Neuroblastoma doesn’t typically cause diarrhea. She’s a big healthy college graduate now!"

"ETA: thank you for all the love! This has been amazing. Who knows? Maybe we all just saved someone with this information. Yay to us for surviving and thriving!!"

- Bumps4000

Wake Up

"Just complete exhaustion. Falling asleep during all my daily tasks - I started falling asleep while driving and that scared the absolute sh*t out of me."

"Still had to fight tooth and nail to do bloodwork. She just kept saying it was mental health-related (I have OCD). Luckily, at the time I nannied for a nurse practitioner and told her what I was feeling. She ordered my labs and turns out I had stage 3 liver cancer. My PCP dropped me as a patient when I got my biopsies back."

- sneakylilhedgehog

Lucky Few

"Blood in my stools off and on. I was an idiot and ignored it for years but had recently started a new medication that exacerbated my symptoms and decided it was finally time to get it figured out."

"I (38F) went in for a combo Endoscopy/Colonoscopy and they removed a 2.5cm polyp. Looked normal, the doc didn’t seem concerned. The results came back cancer. Two months later, I had surgery to remove 2.5” of the colon on either side from where the polyp was removed. Everything came back negative. Officially listed as Stage 1 colon cancer. One of the extremely lucky few."

"Don’t be like me and ignore things for years. Get your colonoscopies!"

- miraclemax42

Not the Reason

"I had some odd blood test results that weren't quite right that my doctors checked a little more closely."

There were some minor aches and pains that I thought were something else that I had in the past. I still haven't really had many symptoms."

"The plus side is that it was caught very early. The doctor told me, 'This is not going to be the reason you die.' Which is an oddly comforting yet ominous way to deliver a cancer diagnosis."

- you_know_who_7199

Too Fast

"My dad, age 36, has severe headaches. Brain cancer, was given 3 months to live, chemo gave him 9. My mum, age 45, has loose bowels, is very aggressive, and already in her liver. Was given 12 months, no option for chemo, radiation or surgery, just painkillers, gone 4 weeks after diagnosis."

- angelface100

He saved my life...

"I was diagnosed with stage 3 occult breast cancer. I had a new kitten who obsessively licked at my armpit. A few days later, I felt a ‘fullness’ feeling in the same armpit, so I went feeling around and found the lump that led to my diagnosis. I had no other symptoms, was too young for routine mammograms (which wouldn’t have helped anyway because it was occult breast cancer so nothing showed up on breast imaging) and the cancer was very aggressive. I would have been dead in 6 months if it weren’t for my cat. He saved my life."

- Gold_Discount9285

Bumps

"I was mostly fine I just had a bump in my neck/clavicle area and very bad night sweats but otherwise I felt normal. Turns out it was lymphoma. Finally finished chemo today and hope that I beat cancer's a**."

- legueton7

This was me too. Small bump and insane night sweats. Eventually, the fatigue was very bad though. Hodgkin lymphoma survivor (x 2 for me) Go us!

- limegreentally

"Crazy night sweats were my big 'go to doctor' indicator. I woke up and my skin was so wet that it was like I had just gotten out of the shower and my bed was completely damp. Turns out I was deep into stage 3 Hodgkin's Lymphoma."

- wjodendor

Years in the Making

"I bumped my head on a car door and it swelled up a bit. After a week or two, it seemed off that the swelling hadn't gone down. Went to see a doc, turns out they found lesions that were indicative of multiple myeloma which is an incurable blood cancer. My doctor estimates that I had had it for 8 to 10 years before being diagnosed. It's just not something they test for..."

"The only symptom that could have been an indicator was lower back pain, but I'm older and overweight so it's not like that was anything surprising."

- Mulchpuppy

Brain Matters

"My friend had headaches that would keep her bedridden for days at a time, turned out to be a glioblastoma in her brain that had spread to her spine."

- ReflectionPossible11

"My mom had a glioblastoma. She messed up big time at work, and her boss reached out to me because it was so out of character for her. I took her to lunch to talk about it. She was using the wrong words for things, so we made a doctor's appointment. They took her from her appointment straight to the hospital because they found the tumor."

"She had surgery soon after and then radiation every day plus a chemo pill. She lasted 5 months because she needed to use the bathroom, called a nurse, didn’t wait for them, got up, and hit her head which caused a seizure that she never came back from. I miss my mom!"

- Loose_Mud2529

There is a Chance

"My dad had serious heart problems starting at an early age. It’s hereditary. I had my bypass surgery 10 years ago. Anyhow, my mom and dad were at a CVS waiting for prescriptions. My dad, as usual, tested his blood pressure there. My mom said what the hell - it’s free, so she tried it out."

"Her blood pressure was sky high. After talking to the pharmacist thinking something was wrong with the machine and testing again a few more times, he urged her to follow up with her doctor. She did. After a bunch of testing, they discovered she had Stage 4 small cell lung cancer."

"She had no idea. I went to the oncologist appointment and he told her there was about 5% chance of making it 5 years. It’s super hard to treat small-cell lung cancer because you need to kill 100% of the cancer cells. 99.999% is not good enough."

"She lived about another 20 years and died of normal old age crap. She beat it somehow. Lesson learned - never give up. Like Jim Carey said in that movie - yes - there is a chance."

- TracePlayer

December 2024

"Zero symptoms. I (22f) was studying abroad and I was the healthiest I’d ever been. I got a routine checkup, and one test led to another, and I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. (Blood cancer). This was in December 2024, had to quit my uni and come back home for treatment."

"Two weeks from now is my last chemotherapy. Cancer is a horrible disease."

- EasyPiglet3400

3 Months

"My mom had severe stomach pain. She got her stomach checked out, but nothing. They checked her pancreas. Stage four. 3 months later she was gone. She didn’t even make it to her second chemo. Guys please please please get your cancer checks."

- Obvious-Yesterday-98

"My father was the same though there was slight back pain. Turned out to be lung cancer that had metastasized to his spine. He had never smoked. He also died within 3-4 months."

- akiralx26

Flu Season

"My mom kept vomiting this past Thanksgiving-New Year’s. Seemed a little confused, but nothing alarming. It was flu season. Then she had a seizure on 1/6. Deadliest and most aggressive brain cancer. She hasn’t been home since the seizure and will pass soon."

- lisaleann

32

"Found a hard lump in my breast in the shower with no other symptoms. I really thought it wasn't going to be anything but of course, it was breast cancer at the age of 30. Also, because of this, we learned our family carries the brca1 gene mutation, and now everyone is getting checked. I'm 32 now, cancer-free, but still really struggling to process everything that's happened over the last two years. Cancer really sucks. Get to know your body and get anything new or abnormal checked."

- Tutert

I hate cancer even more now.

Too many lives have been touched by it.

I'm very inspired to hear so many stories of survival.

Early detection is EVERYTHING!

We must do our best to listen to our bodies.

It's sad our medical system doesn't make pre-emptive care easy.

Get your check-ups.

We only have one life and one body.