I was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer after brushing off symptom that strikes millions after they eat

Heather Candrilli had been suffering from bloating and stomach pain for years but blamed it on her diet and giving birth to two children. So, when she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, her world was turned upside down.

But the 36-year-old mother of two was determined to beat her diagnosis - which has a survival rate of 13 percent - and she 'hit the ground running' and started an aggressive chemotherapy regimen in May 2024.

But she's been been hit with painful side effects and medical bills that could exceed half a million dollars.

Her husband, Corey Candrilli, a disabled US Army combat veteran said: 'I don’t understand exactly what she’s going through, but I understand pain. I understand the highs and lows.

'She's amazing.'

Since her diagnosis, Mrs Candrilli has undergone 20 rounds of chemotherapy and multiple surgeries to try and remove tumors, but her fight isn't over.

Mr Candrilli said his wife's delayed diagnosis - she visited multiple doctors and had her symptoms dismissed - puts a spotlight on the need for a law that would require insurance companies to cover colonoscopies for younger patients with certain symptoms.

Colonscopies are the gold standard for screening for the disease, which is on the rise in young people across the US. They are typically recommended to begin at 45 and occur every 10 years so long as results are normal.

However, lack of - and confusion over - insurance coverage has led people to delay screening or has burdened them with bills for thousands of dollars.

On most insurance plans, the procedure should cost on average $79 out-of-pocket, with health insurers footing the rest of the about $2,125 bill.

But recently, patients have come forward to say they've been charged upward of $5,000, $7,000 and even $20,000 for the procedure, despite having health insurance.

The couple live in New York, where the law requires insurance coverage for colonoscopies only for people 45 and older.

'You can’t get it. It’s unbelievable,’' Mr Candrilli told SI Live of colonoscopies before 45.

'It’s truly unbelievable. These are your teachers, your parents, people raising your children. These are our future.'

The army veteran said his wife had been experiencing bloating and abdominal pain but, 'when you're about that age, you're busy rising a family, and the last thing you're going to be thinking about is yourself.'

Mrs Candrilli was tested for the chronic autoimmune diseases crohn's and celiac, but the couple said a colonoscopy was never suggested.

However, an ultrasound of Mrs Candrilli's stomach detected something on her liver, then a colonoscopy was performed, which revealed an aggressively growing tumor that had spread to other parts of her body.

Mr Candrilli said: 'As soon as they ordered the colonoscopy, they saw the tumor right there on her colon.'

Mrs Candrilli underwent surgery to remove a portion of her colon and is now awaiting a liver transplant.

Since her initial surgery, she has undergone 20 rounds of chemotherapy, which her husband said are shrinking the tumors.

These sessions required her to spend four hours in the hospital every two weeks to receive the medication and then wear an external device that continued delivering chemotherapy to her for 48 hours after.

And while the treatments are working, Mr Candrilli said the family cannot keep up with medical bills.

He said: 'It’s ridiculously expensive. Insurance is helpful, but we’ve been told that, even with insurance, this can go up to at least $500,000.'

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family with medical bills as Mrs Candrilli stopped working as a nanny before becoming a mother and supporting her husband after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq.

He told SI Live: 'She's the greatest medicine I've ever had my whole life.'

About 67 percent of adults adhere to current screening requirements, below the US government target of at least 70 percent.

Colon cancer often causes no symptoms until it has spread to other areas of the body, where it becomes harder to treat.

But warning signs can include trouble using the bathroom, blood in feces and persistent diarrhea or constipation.

Doctors fear that, faced with the risk of high prices, patients may put off any screenings — which can find pre-cancerous growths and eliminate them, slashing the risk of developing the cancer.

They may also put off screenings even when they have symptoms, risking the cancer reaching an advanced stage — making it harder to treat and deadlier.

Dr Glenn Littenberg, a physician who recently chaired the reimbursement committee of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, told DailyMail.com: 'The majority of people who do preventative screening should have very little out-of-pocket cost, regardless of where they go.

'But there are horror stories, with the exception being when someone goes out of network for their physical or hospital.'

'If patients are putting off colonoscopies worrying about costs, then this means these aren't removed.'

He added: 'Screening reveals benign polyps that aren't cancer, but by removing them we are reducing the risk of cancer developing.

'If you put off screening and don't do anything, there's certainly a much higher probability that when you go in, you have symptoms,' which may raise the risk of being diagnosed with cancer.