SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass. - A Central Massachusetts man is sharing his story of battling cancer, saying a screening at a local hospital no doubt saved his life. It comes during colorectal cancer awareness month. A disease, experts say, has seen a scary rise in recent years. The state's department of public health says colon cancer is the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in Massachusetts.

A history of kidney stones led Keith Syders to believe his stomach pains in 2021 were nothing too serious. But after passing out and going to UMass Memorial Health's Harrington Hospital, a cat scan changed his life.

"That's how they found out," said Syders. "On a hunch, that hey, we found something in your colon."

That something was cancer. A diagnosis he never even thought about.

"You don't think about it until it happens to someone you know or what have you. I think that's, it was a shellshock to be honest with you."

“Early screening might have picked up the cancer at an earlier stage and thus decreased his risk of a subsequent recurrence of colon cancer,” says Syders’ oncologist, Dr. Jeffrey Gordon of the Cancer Center at Harrington Hospital. 

“During my 32 years of being a doctor, I have seen over time, especially during the past 5 years, an increase in the number of young people (less than 50 years old) being diagnosed with colon cancer. The specific causes have not yet been identified, but it might be due to sedentary lifestyle, being overweight, smoking cigarettes, types of foods being eaten (such as high-processed meats), and possibly environmental factors. So far, genetic predispositions have not been identified to account for the uptick in the number of young people getting colon cancer,” says Dr. Gordon.

Syders, now 53, is part of an unfortunate trend in the U.S. Per the American Cancer Association, in people under age 50, incidence rates for early-onset colorectal cancer have increased by more than 2% per year from 2012 to 2021. In people under age 55, death rates have been increasing by about 1% per year since the mid-2000s.

Syders was in remission for about a year and a half. But a trip to his doctor about a year ago showed that his cancer had returned. This time, near his bladder.

"I knew, my family knew it was cancer, we knew," he said. "It would've been awesome if it wasn't but, you know, the problem with cancer, once it's in you."

Syders is in chemotherapy every two weeks, which he says wears him down. Otherwise, he says he has his good days and bad days.

"I'm not that bad today," Syders said during an interview Thursday. "I get sore on occasion. I can't do the things I used to. That's another thing that frustrates me. You know, I just turned 53-years-old and a body in motion stays in motion. I like to go for walks, I like to exercise. I can't do that like I used to."

Without that cat scan four years ago, he's not sure if he'd be here today, which is why he's urging everyone:

"You got to get tested," he emphasized. "Get on it right away."

Keith says while only in the earlier part of the process, the chemotherapy is much more challenging the second time around. But he believes it is working well. His one regret is not getting a colonoscopy before turning 50.