A pair of New Jersey sisters are both battling ‘nightmare’ stage 4 colon cancers together after both were diagnosed with the disease in their thirties.
In February 2021, Eloisa Oquendo sought medical help for severe lower abdominal pain. When doctors rushed the 37-year-old into emergency surgery, they discovered a ticking time bomb.
‘That’s when they discovered the cancer,’ she said. ‘The doctor came in, and I was by myself, and told me I had stage four colon cancer.’
After previously being declared cancer free, Ms Oquendo’s disease returned with a vengeance earlier this year. But this time, she won’t go through treatment alone.
In March 2024, her sister Joyce Melo was also diagnosed with stage four colon cancer after undergoing routine surgery to remove her appendix.
Ms Oquendo said: ‘What are the chances that two sisters get diagnosed back-to-back with the same diagnosis that’s almost unheard of.’
Eloisa Oquendo (right) and Joyce Melo (left), sisters in New Jersey, were both diagnosed with stage four colon cancer at age 37
The above graph shows the rise of colorectal cancer in Americans under 50 in the last two decades
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Ms Melo was 37 years old when she was diagnosed, the same age of her sister’s diagnosis three years earlier.
Ms Melo told local news station KRON 4: ‘Sometimes I still can’t believe this is our life, honestly. It kind of feels like you are living a nightmare.’
In February 2021, Ms Oquendo went to the hospital with extreme lower abdominal pain and was rushed into emergency surgery, which is when doctors discovered her stage 4 colon cancer.
Stage four colon cancer kills nearly nine in 10 patients within five years.
Ms Oquendo underwent three more surgeries and 24 rounds of chemotherapy. She was told she was in remission.
However, earlier this year, her cancer returned and she is set to undergo more rounds of chemotherapy.
About three years later, in March 2024, Ms Melo visited the hospital herself when she experienced lower abdominal pain.
Tests revealed she had an inflamed appendix and would need the organ removed.
Like with her sister, doctors found cancer in Ms Melo’s body and she too was diagnosed with colon cancer. At the time, it was thought to be stage 1.
However, doctors soon discovered the cancer had spread to her lungs and her status was advanced to stage 4.
Ms Melo wrote on Facebook she was immediately rushed into an eight-hour surgery, where doctors had to remove a portion of her right lung in order to take out the tumor.
She now plans to undergo 12 rounds of chemotherapy, followed by a procedure to remove 80 percent of her colon to prevent the cancer from returning.
Three years after her sister’s diagnosis, Joyce Melo (left middle) received the same diagnosis – stage 4 colon cancer
The above shows the symptoms and their frequency in early onset colon cancer patients, those who develop colon cancer before the age of 50, and late onset patients, those who develop the cancer after 50
The sisters’ story comes as colon cancer surges in young Americans, with 50,000 expected to die from the disease this year.
Rates in people under 50 have risen about two percent per year since the early 2000s and cases are projected to double from 2010 to 2030.
A number of factors have been under suspicion of causing the rise of the disease in young people – a diet of highly processed foods and energy drinks and obesity.
However, experts have noted a rise in the disease in fit and otherwise health Americans.
Now, an emerging area of science suggests the body’s gut and microbiome – collection of beneficial bacteria in the body – may play a role. And more recently, scientists posited high blood sugar could be a contributing factor.
As both sisters endure treatment and recovery, Ms Melo said: ‘Recovery has been incredibly challenging and I’m still unsure where I’ve found the strength to endure all of this.
‘But you never really know how strong you are until you’re faced with the greatest battle of your life.’
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It’s unclear what exactly could have caused both sisters to receive the same diagnosis at the same age, but research has started to scratch the surface.
According to the Mayo Clinic, having a family history of colon cancer raises the risk of developing it by five to 15 percent.
Mayo Clinic experts wrote: ‘If your relative with cancer is younger than age 50, your risk if even higher.’
And a 2019 study published in BMJ found siblings of colon cancer patients were 70 percent more likely to develop the disease compared to those without any family history.
Additionally, according to the American Cancer Society, the same cancer in two siblings may be due to a genetic mutation inherited from their parents.
The ACS also noted having multiple close relatives with colon cancer at a young age could be a sign of a family cancer syndrome, which is also caused by inherited genetic factors.
While Ms Melo is battling the disease, she is also dealing with financial battles as her insurance is denying coverage for her chemotherapy treatments.
Her sister Ms Oquendo told KRON 4: ‘It makes me angry. How does insurance not cover chemotherapy. Like how is that not an option?’
The family has established a GoFundMe for Ms Melo with a goal of $20,000. Approximately $9,400 has been raised so far.
