Exclusive | I was healthy before my colon cancer diagnosis at 35 — the symptom I wish had been taken seriously

Rory Kennedy, 36, has no family history of cancer. He’s not overweight, and he has always maintained a healthy lifestyle — clean diet, regular exercise, no smoking or drinking. 

So when he was diagnosed with stage 3C colon cancer last September, it was a shock, to say the least. 

“I don’t have a single checkmark of colon cancer,” he told The Post. “No root cause. They said just something happened in your body that something mutated.”

It all began in 2022, when Kennedy experienced a week of black, tarry stools — which can be caused by anything ranging from gastrointestinal bleeding to eating too many blueberries. 

He went to an urgent care clinic, where he was told it was probably “just an ulcer” or some bacteria, given some drugs, and sent home. 

“I took [the drugs] and the symptoms seemed to alleviate over the next month,” he said. “So I didn’t think anything of it. Went on with my life. Everything was fine.”

Flash forward to June 2024, when Kennedy saw “one single bloody stool” — one of the most prominent signs of colon cancer — and decided to see a gastroenterologist, especially since he had had intermittent stomach pains — which is another common sign. 

“He told me right away that if I had black, tarry stools back then, I should have gotten a colonoscopy and endoscopy immediately,” Kennedy said. 

Though colorectal cancer can sometimes be asymptomatic, Dr. Kiranmayi Muddasani, a staff surgeon in the Department of Colorectal Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center, told the Post that a change in bowel habits or caliber of stool — as well as rectal bleeding or weight loss — are among the most common symptoms.

“That’s why a colonoscopy is the best way to detect and treat it earlier,” he said.

Once they performed those procedures on Kennedy, he heard a sentence no one ever wants to hear. 

“That’s when I was hit with the brick of news: ‘You have a mass in your colon,’” he said. “I was surprised. I had no idea. I knew there was something going on, but I figured I just had a polyp that was bleeding or an injury in the colon or something.”

What followed was “pretty intensive” surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, during which 10 inches of colon, some small intestine, appendix and 45 lymph nodes were removed. Cancer was found in eight out of the 45 lymph nodes, leading to a stage 3C diagnosis in September 2024.

“There are letters involved because I guess every step is a little worse. So like 3A is not as bad as 3B, which is not as bad as 3C. 3C is the last letter for stage 3,” he said.

“So I’m basically one notch away from stage 4.”

It was, to say the least, devastating. 

“I would say from the time I learned [the diagnosis] and all the way to like a month after, you’re just in a terrible headspace,” he said. “I have a wife, I have a newborn child that just turned one the day I was doing surgery.”

He began chemotherapy treatment, which has taken a physical toll on his body. 

“There’s a lot of side effects,” he said. “You get nauseous, can’t sleep because you’re on steroids the first few days that are supposed to alleviate the nausea but you’re still nauseous so you’re taking pills for that.”

Chemo weakens the immune system, leading to frequent illnesses — which means he can’t be around his young son as much as he’d like. 

When he gets tears in his eyes, they burn — and so does his mouth, a lesser-known condition known as “chemo mouth.”  

“Have you ever gotten a pizza burn? When you eat a hot pizza and it burns the top of your mouth? Imagine that feeling everywhere — in your mouth, your gums and in your throat,” he said.

Even still, Kennedy believes the hardest part of having cancer is the uncertainty. 

“The mental is definitely the worst part because the physical time heals,” he said. 

“It’s really challenging because all the scenarios just run through your mind. Oh my gosh, I’m not going to see my kid go to kindergarten or I’m not going to see him graduate high school or get married or any of these things. Oh my gosh, I may not be able to even have another kid. My wife’s going to move on without a husband. Do I tell her to find a new husband? Do I need to build a will?”

He credits his wife, Facebook support groups for people with cancer, and his faith with getting him through the darkest days. 

“I am a Christian and I would say it’s made me an even a stronger Christian, made me even more faithful,” he said.

And, through all the pain, getting cancer has given him one silver lining — it’s made him practice mindfulness. 

“On the good side, I’ve been more present in the moment, because I don’t know how many good moments I’m going to have,” he said. 

Currently, Kennedy is finishing chemo, after which he will undergo scans and blood tests to check for cancer. If the tests are clear, he will be in remission, but he will have a 40-50% chance of recurrence. 

If he’s cancer-free for five years, he will be discharged — but still faces a 10% lifetime recurrence risk.

These days, he’s feeling much better, especially since the preliminary tests they’ve done have shown up clear. But if there’s one thing he regrets — it’s that he didn’t get a colonoscopy sooner. 

“Sometimes, I wonder — when I had the black tarry [stools], I wish the doctor would have told me back then, ‘Hey, I’m referring you to a GI.’”

He has decided to share his story in the hopes of urging people to get colonoscopies, emphasizing that a colonoscopy is the only way to prevent colon cancer by removing precancerous polyps. 

He also stressed that — contrary to common belief – the procedure is quick, painless (under anesthesia), and easy to recover from. And it sure beats the alternative. 

“I don’t want other people to go through this,” he said. 

“I highly don’t recommend cancer, it’s really not fun. I would rather do 30 colonoscopies in a row than go through freaking chemo.”