JoCo woman with terminal colon cancer at 24 has a warning for young people
Sarah Basore wants young adults to think the unthinkable. Because it happened to her.
Basore, a 24-year-old former college athlete from Overland Park, is living with a terminal diagnosis of Stage 4 colon cancer.
“The main thing I want people to know is what I didn’t know: The rate of colon cancer among young people is skyrocketing,” she said. “I want young people to know the symptoms and advocate for themselves if they get dismissed.
“You are not untouchable at a young age.”
Statistics and projections from the American Cancer Society confirm that : The incidence of early onset colorectal cancer is expected to increase by more than 140% by 2030.
More than 27,000 people under age 50 will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2030. Among adults under 50, colorectal cancer is now the No. 1 cause of cancer death in men and the No. 2 in women.
“Colon cancer is called the silent killer for a reason. The symptoms are not obvious,” Basore said.
Basore had symptoms — stomach aches and pains — but wasn’t alarmed. She was, after all, a track athlete at Northwest Missouri State, so those aches “were not out of the ordinary for me.”
And as an athlete, Basore was under constant supervision.
“I thought I was in good health,” she said. “I was in the athletic trainer’s office all the time.”
But then the extraordinary happened: Blood in her stools.
“That was the only symptom that alerted me to something was wrong. Up until there was blood in my stool, I really didn’t think much about it.”
“But even at 21 I knew that was a really big red flag.”
“Your body can almost camouflage it. I was a collegiate athlete. I ran my last race two weeks before my diagnosis,” she said. “There is a taboo about colon cancer. People don’t want to be informed. People want to ignore.”
Shortly after graduating from Northwest Missouri State University in May 2023, she got the diagnosis.
Basore doesn’t know why her colon cancer occurred. There are links to colon cancer and a lifetime of alcohol and processed meat consumption, and obesity.
“But young people are not a lifetime consumption,” Basore said.
And she had eaten mostly home-cooked meals her entire life.
“I was a pretty healthy as an athlete. I was just unlucky.”
‘Not looking for a cure’
Since her diagnosis in 2023, Basore has found a path forward.
“I did a lot of researching and strategizing on how I was going to extend my time on earth.”
She began clinical trials in August, which require weekly drives to Nashville.
“I am not looking for a cure,” Basore said. “That’s not the reality for many Stage 4 colon cancer patients.”
Basore said cures are very possible in lower stages, and that’s why catching the cancer through preventative screening before it reaches Stage 4 is critical.
The current regime has stabilized her situation. There are no new lesions, and tumor markers and blood work have remained the same.
Basore got a tattoo of the word “Alive” on her wrist when she turned 20.
Her inspiration of the tattoo is the same now as it was when she got it done: “To seek out things that made me feel alive.”
Those things have included getting married a year ago.
The wedding encompassed many things the 24-year-old had always wanted to experience.
“I wanted my mom to zip up my dress, my dad to walk me down the aisle, and to marry my best friend.
“I wanted it for me but for others, too.”
Basore took a trip with her husband to Hawaii, and a trip with her dad to Oregon for the Olympic trials.
“There is the memory-making. But it makes me feel normal and alive.”
There are other things that make her feel alive.
“I love road trips. I love just being in a car with someone and have undivided time with them, and seeing new places.”
And she loves to read in a park and hang out with her dog Frankie.
“I think when you have a terminal diagnosis you forget you can do those little things,” Basore said.
She said it is not uncommon to become isolated, especially when you’re going through brutal cancer treatments.
Basore herself didn’t share the diagnosis beyond her family and closest friends for four months. And then when hair loss prompted her to shave her head, it was time to go public.
“At some point you make a decision if you are going to wallow, or take those times to feel alive,” she said. “I said yes to everything.”
Sharing her story
One of those things was to co-host a podcast.
Before Basore was diagnosed, she was friends with Jay Rice, the current Director of the Tough2Gether Foundation, because he worked with her mom.
Rice’s best friend Jace Ward was diagnosed with DIPG, a terminal pediatric brain cancer, and passed away in 2021. The Ward family started the Tough2Gether foundation to help DIPG/DMG families through and after the fight, to raise awareness for the disease and to fundraise towards more research.
“After I was diagnosed in 2023, the Tough2Gether Foundation took me under their wing and helped support my emotionally and financially even though I wasn’t diagnosed with the cancer they primarily focus on,” Basore said. “I joined Jay in started the ‘I Can’t Die I’m Busy’ podcast in December 2023 to help other cancer kids tell their story and raise awareness for many different types of pediatric and young adult cancers.”
Tough2Gether is hosting its third annual softball tournament this Saturday, Nov. 15, to raise money for the cause.
Basore said it is important for young people with colon cancer to connect with others young people with similar diagnoses.
Her involvement in an online community called Colontown has prompted the development of a friendship with a 31-year-old woman in Australia also living with a Stage 4 colon cancer.
“She’s my best friend within the cancer world,” Basore said. “We talk every day and help each other through the ups and downs.”
“I want people to know what I didn’t know. I want them to know that this can happen to them, but there is still life to live.
“That’s what I am doing.”
Resources around colon cancer
- KU Cancer Center’s Wall of Hope
- Fight CRC
- The Colon Cancer Alliance
- Dana Farber’s Young Onset Colorectal Cancer Center