Randy Gonzalez, the 34-year-old creator of the “Enkyboys” TikTok account, recently announced that he received a diagnosis more than 6 months ago of stage 4 colorectal cancer. While the vast majority of colorectal cancer cases are diagnosed in adults over the age of 50, doctors are seeing a gradual rise in cases in younger adults. By the time the symptoms of colon cancer appear, however, it may be harder to treat, Shun Yu, MD, a medical oncologist at NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, tells Verywell Health.

“One of the greatest tragedies of early-onset colon cancer is that both patients and healthcare professionals do not think about colon cancer when evaluating younger patients,” says Dr. Yu says, also a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “As a result, younger patients are much more likely to be undiagnosed for months—therefore when it is diagnosed, the cancer is more likely to already be at a later stage.”

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