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A man diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at 48 has spoken out about the warning signs he dismissed prior to receiving his devastating diagnosis.
Shawn Michael, a 48-year-old from Springfield, Missouri, has shared the heartbreaking moment he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer — a condition that starts with abnormal cell growth in the large intestine.
He shared last month on The Patient Story’s YouTube channel — where the video has since garnered nearly 100,000 views — that he had only been dealing with one relatively common symptom before receiving the life-changing diagnosis.
It all began in October when Michael started noticing mild bowel problems. Thinking it was just routine constipation, he didn’t give it much thought—until things quickly escalated into a medical crisis.
“Two days later, I could still physically feel something inside me. The pain was unbearable,” he recalled, describing how he returned to urgent care after over-the-counter remedies failed to help.
Doctors initially prescribed what he jokingly referred to as “napalm for your intestines,” which gave him brief relief, but the discomfort persisted. A subsequent CT scan revealed a mass in his colon—and from that moment, his life took a dramatic turn.
“The nurse told me the signs were pointing to stage four colon cancer,” he recalled. “I’ve been in hospitals before — as a kid, I spent a lot of time there with my mum — and nothing ever moves quickly in the medical world unless something’s seriously wrong.”
He continued, “All I could think about was how I was going to break the news to my wife, who was at home waiting for me to walk through the door.”
Michael later underwent surgery where doctors removed a significant section of his colon and found multiple large, cancerous tumors on his omentum — the layer of fatty tissue that drapes over the colon.
“The surgeon told me the blockage in my colon was so severe, he was amazed it hadn’t ruptured yet,” Michael shared. “It turned out to be a bit of luck that it had adhered to the fatty tissue, which helped slow the cancer from spreading to other organs.”
Despite the stage four diagnosis and the cancer having metastasized, Michael and his medical team remain optimistic. His younger age and otherwise good health give him a better shot at overcoming the disease.
Surgeons successfully removed all visible tumors during the operation, though some cancer remains. Michael is now gearing up for three months of chemotherapy in the hopes of eliminating what’s left.
