Warning: This article includes discussions of cancer, which may be distressing for some readers.
A woman from Pennsylvania has revealed the single symptom that doctors repeatedly overlooked before she received a stage four cancer diagnosis.
Rylie Toomey, residing in Mechanicsburg, was living life to the fullest, balancing wedding preparations and training for a half marathon.
However, she had an unsettling feeling that something was amiss with her body, a feeling she could not shake off.
She had been experiencing intermittent stomach pains for several months, but initially, doctors attributed it to constipation.
Despite this, Rylie’s pain intensified to such an extent that she found herself yelling in distress while waiting in an emergency room back in April.
During an interview with Today, she said, “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 eventually received a diagnosis of stage four colon cancer, a form of the disease that is rapidly increasing among individuals under 50 in the United States.
She expressed her disbelief, saying, “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.”
She continued, “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.”
While factors such as obesity, poor diet, sugary beverages, and ultra-processed foods can heighten the risk of colon cancer, these were not applicable in Rylie’s situation, making her diagnosis even more unexpected.
Due to her youth and lack of family history with colon cancer, Rylie believes she was swiftly ‘dismissed’ by medical professionals.
Speaking to Today, she said, “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 added, “I didn’t feel like it was that urgent to them when it felt super urgent to me.”
Due to her ongoing treatment, Rylie has had to reschedule her wedding, now planned for June 2026.
She stated, “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 highlighted the necessity of ‘pushing for answers’ regarding health concerns, saying, “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 fundraising effort has been initiated to ‘help ease the burden of this journey’ for Rylie, and you can contribute here.
If these issues affect you and you need someone to talk to confidentially, reach out to the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.