Married woman, 33, who thought she had indigestion for two years brought on by stress from her high-powered job and a food truck diet is diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer
At 33 years old, Diana Zepeda was a fairly typical Washington, DC
resident: working long hours in a stressful job, eating whatever was
available when she had a minute to spare, past the invincibility of her
20s, and feeling the physical consequences.
Her friends, too, were
developing one food intolerance after another, so between her lifestyle
and stress levels, it seemed reasonable that Zepeda’s stomach started
acting up.
Now, six months later, Zepeda has had radiation, chemotherapy and a sizable portion of her digestive system removed.
She is one of an alarming and growing number of young people developing the disease, which was once thought to be an illness of older people only.
Zepeda endured relatively mild symptoms like bouts of diarrhea for two years, blaming her own diet before going to a doctor.
Now, at the end of six months of chemotherapy, she warns that early action might have saved her from several invasive surgeries and the partial loss of several organs.