"Started Forgetting Words": 30 People Share Early Signs Of Cancer To Look Out For

My cat found my cancer and bugged me about it until I went to the doctor.

My cat has always like to lay on me and “knead” part of my body with her paws. For 7 years it was random, various parts of my body. Then for about 6 months she started to focus on one spot on my chest. At first I chalked it up to her wanting to be closer to my face, but after a couple months I noticed that the spot she was focused on had become very tender. Then I felt a small lump in that spot. Due to my (relatively young age), it took me a couple of months to convince one of my doctors that it was a potential issue, but eventually I got tested and had a pretty giant tumor in that spot (plus other tumors elsewhere).

Yes, kitty got lots of cuddles, wet food, and Greenies as a thank you.

My 33 year old husband was diagnosed with inoperable glioblastoma (most aggressive brain cancer) in January 2019, when he was 31. What caused him to get a check, was persistent headache that didn’t go away with paracetamols and sleep. We discovered the tumours after taking an MRI.

Needless to say, our lives were changed forever. Now we are at the end of our journey, and it’s been a harrowing experience for me as his wife and caregiver. It’s a lonely journey. I don’t wish it upon anyone and no one has any idea what glioblastoma is like, unless they have gone through it. The median survival time is 14-18 months. We are on our 18th month now.. and given days/ weeks left. Every day is a gift, and I’m glad I get to be holding his hands every day, even if he’s resting and sleeping most of the time. As long as he is not in pain, and that the morphine patches are working, that is fine by me... I can’t handle him going through anymore pain.

Edit: Thank you so much for sharing your stories, giving me strength and support, and I’m so blessed to even be receiving all of your kindness. It’s such a touchy subject and I’m hurt all the time, but you guys being so kind, really makes me cry happy tears. I’m so touched. I don’t know how to describe it but I feel a little bit lifted. And that’s more than I can ask for, from the Internet. My husband, Viktor, would have been so grateful, to know that he is loved and supported by more people than he thought he was. Thank you. ❤️

Edit (2nd Aug): Viktor has passed away yesterday, on 1st August, 7.43pm Swedish time. He was surrounded by his brother and me and smiled a lot to the very end. At his final resting position, his face looked relaxed and a little smile can be seen by us too. I am still in shock, processing what has happened to us. I’ll take the time I need to process this and grieve. I just miss my husband. I miss his laughs. I miss his smile. I feel loved. I know I’m loved. So that’s keeping me together. Thank you so much for your kind support even though we are strangers on the Internet. I am both saddened and moved by the generosity of others to offer support, love and to bare their personal pain related to GBM/cancer/loss in general.

Thank you. May Viktor find peace. I know he’s not in pain now.

My brother was 11 when he started experiencing symptoms. He started losing a lot of weight, and when he was playing soccer it looked like he was running through mud and couldn’t keep up with everyone else. My parents took him to the pediatrician and they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. One day, he woke up and couldn’t stop throwing up. When he tried to run to the bathroom, he kept running into the door frame and couldn’t walk straight. He said the lights were giving him a headache. We took him to the emergency room and they found that he had a brain tumor, and had emergency brain surgery the next day. We were extremely lucky that they decided to do a CAT scan at the ER, apparently they don’t usually do them on kids.
Two brain surgeries and a year and a half of chemo later, and he is in remission now!

I was fooling around in a mall as a kid. So My dad grabbed me by the neck to make me behave. He felt a lump on my neck and immediately began to get nervous. We went to the doctor the next day, caught the cancer before it spread and was able to surgically remove it about a month later. Got super lucky.

My self diagnosed IBS was actually a tumor and it hemoraged. Stage 4 Rectal cancer. I beat that but it is in my liver now too big to operate. I am living my best life while I can!

I was 17, getting ready for spring break back in 2010. Was making plans with my boyfriend on the phone because we were going to take his brothers to the zoo in a different city.

Literally in seconds there's this big translucent blind spot in my eye that is orange. I can see dark shapes behind it but it's super blurry.

I figured I would just go to the eye doctor before I left the next day, but my sister (who actually works for the cancer center in my city) told me that I should go to the hospital because anything weird with your vision can be super serious.

After 36 hours of Emergency waits, driving to specialists, they finally admitted me to the eye ward for a bacterial infection. Then they took my blood for a routine blood test.

Within an hour or so (as I was getting ready to sleep) a doctor and nurse come in. The nurse has a box of tissues. The doctor told me my "blood is leukemic" to which I asked "okay, can I treat that?" He was extremely unclear on what was happening, I was 17, my family had already left, and I had no idea about any cancers.

I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and started chemo that night after being transfered to a different hospital. They did a bone marrow biopsy the next morning and then sent it to a genetic lab in another province. When the test results came back they changed my diagnosis to Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia in the Blast Phase Crisis (final stage) that was caused by the Philadelphia Chromosome - where chromosomes 9 and 22 switch places and causes a mutation in my red blood cells. Told me I was the youngest person in the world with it, as CML usually takes a very long time to progress and the final stage doesn't show until around 65 years of age. That change in diagnosis changed my timeline. They had originally said 6 months to a year untreated, but now it was 1-3 months if I didn't get a stem cell transplant or bone marrow transplant.

All this because I had blood clots happening all over my body because of the abnormalities of my red blood cell shapes - and the one in my eye presented itself in my vision since the vessels are so small.

Edit - I guess I never finished off, I just celebrated 10 years in remission on June 17th this year and I'm healthy. My sister ended up being a 10/10 DNA marker match and I was able to get a stem cell transplant on June 17th, 2010. Still immunocompromised and taking Dasatinib everyday (chemo pill), but able to live my life. Covid has been really worrisome for me, but I'm just trying to be as careful as possible. Thanks for all the comments!

And p.s. I'm a female! The boyfriend was extremely supportive for a teenager and we were together for 7 years before we parted ways mutually.

I had what I thought was a stroke and found out I have a Glioblastoma. I was given 12-15 months and so far I’ve made it to the 15th month!

Unbearable stomach pain in the middle of the night at 32
24 hours later a 15cm cyst was found in my right ovary
6 weeks later I was told it was ovarian cancer
20 days later I had a complete hysterectomy

I'm 34, in menopause, cured and very lucky. Thank you NHS

My dad had a nipple pulling in that he knew about for "several months" before mentioning to anyone. He now thinks it may have been a year before he actually mentioned it to my mom, who demanded he see a doctor about it immediately. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer. After chemo, a double mastectomy, and radiation, he is in remission.

I would be remiss if I didn't include this on his behalf: male breast cancer is not as uncommon as you think it is. Pay attention to any changes in your body and get yourself checked out.

My head and neck area became very swollen. At first I thought I was just getting fat, so I worked out a lot and ate better. This did not help. I also went to a local clinic and they thought it might be an allergic reaction and gave me steroids, which also didn’t help. The thing that finally made me go to the emergency room and not leave until I had an answer is that I started to develop unexplained bruises on my chest.

Turns out I had a huge tumor in my chest which had grown around my heart and was compressing the superior vena cava so blood couldn’t flow back down from my head. Not great!

The good news is that it turned out to be very treatable and I’ve been cancer free for 11 years now.

Testicular Cancer survivor here. I had a dull pain one day in my right testicle. Didn't think much of it. I then took a shower and my ball felt different, it wasn't smooth. I just felt that something was different. I went to my doctor and asked him to check them to make sure things were normal. He did the check and didn't think things felt off but ordered an ultrasound anyway. I went and did the ultrasound, and I didn't hear what they found. They just asked me to go back for another ultrasound. The next day I got told I had to go to the hospital to see the urologist. Within minutes of meeting the doctor, he told me I had testicular cancer and was having surgery that night. It happened so fast. I caught mine early. Now I tell everyone to feel your balls and know your normal.

Had a friend who pulled her back, did it camping. She just couldn't pinpoint exactly how or when. She dealt with it for a month and finally after Thanksgiving decided to go to the doctor to see if they could help.

Pancreatic cancer, she passed away 45 days later.

Fast forward 10 years, my sisters boyfriend pulled his back. He did pool and pest control work so he figured he just lifted wrong. After a few weeks I reminded my sister of our friend and pancreatic cancer. She finally convinced him to go get it looked at.

He passed away a little less than 3 months later.

Had a real bad cold I just couldn’t get rid of. I felt worse and worse each day for around four months. Never went to the Dr because I was 30 and it was a cold and I had a $5000 deductible. I finally go see a Doc, get a p**s-poor examination and a script for antibiotics. I did feel better on them, but the day after the antibiotics course was over, I was back to feeling like hell. The day I finally went to the ER, I was getting ready for work and had to sit and rest just from getting dressed. Then, I walked out to my car and had to stop and lean on the car to rest before even getting in. I got to work and when my boss noticed I couldn’t stand for more than two minutes without having to sit down she insisted that I go to the ER. After they checked my blood, the doc came in and basically told me that he’s not sure how I’m still alive because I have a hemoglobin level of 2 (a level of 8 is considered an emergency requiring immediate blood transfusions) At least now I know why I felt like I was dying! He tells me that I could be because of an ulcer or other internal bleeding, or it could be a cancer like leukemia or lymphoma. As soon as he said that, in my mind I said “yeah, it’s cancer.” I had an endoscopy that night which found no internal bleeding, and throughout the night I needed ten back to back blood transfusions. I woke up feeling like a million bucks because I actually had blood in my body for the first time in months. I’m super fortunate that doctors were able to move quickly with my treatment, I had a successful bone marrow transplant at one of the top hospitals in the US, and I’ll be three years of remission in August!

I was four, I didn’t want to be a bother to anyone so I tried as best as possible to hide the pain in my leg. My pre-k teacher noticed I was limping and told my parents about it. I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and had my left leg amputated through the knee. This October will be 16 years since I ended treatment!

My sister noticed a small painful lump in her breast shortly after having her second child. Doctor diagnosed a blocked mammary gland. A couple weeks later it still wasn’t gone. Again doc said blocked gland. Months later it’s still not gone and she insists on getting a second opinion. Stage 3 breast cancer. Double mastectomy immediately followed by months of agonizing radiation and chemo only to find out it’s now stage four. She’s been stable for a few years but now it’s spreading again and we don’t know how long we have w her. Trying to be as positive as possible.

My dad was acting strange. He looked disheveled somewhat and was telling the same stories. Well he's 86, that can come with age. But he was also swerving on the road driving and he called me one day to take him to his doctor. Long story short, stage 4 GBM; brain cancer. Had surgery, was ok for a couple of months but was gone a couple months after that. Good part was, had had no pain and didn't suffer.

Edit: Thank you!

I had a persistent pain in the middle of my sternum. Doctors thought it was costochondritis (essentially just inflammation of a joint). I stopped working out and lifting heavy things for 3 months but it didn't go away. Eventually I started having nightsweats and random aches. After I fractured my hip, I got an MRI and biopsy and they diagnosed me with stage IV non Hodgkin's lymphoma. I got chemo and I've been in remission for 5 years.

EDIT: I'm seeing a lot of people describing a similar chest pain and getting scared. Not all chest pain is cancer and not all cancer is chest pain. I felt the pain in my chest because my tumor happened to be growing there. It could just as easily have grown somewhere else, and my story might have started with describing a persistent pain in the middle of my shin.

If you're worried about something, talk to your doctor!

Trigger warning:
Sex and Blood.

Cervix cancer. A couple of times during sex blood would just randomly pour out of me. Nowhere near my time of month and no pain. Turns out that is one of the warning signs.
Three surgeries later I have had my cervix (the mouth og the uterus) removed completely, bit by bit. They tried taking only what they had to, as lack of a cervix makes impregnation and carrying to term harder, but it kept reappearing. I Hope it's done now.

Edit. A lot of women (and other concerned people) have been asking me stuff so here are the most common questions answered.
Keep in mind that English is not my first language and that I am NOT a medically trained person.

- It was during sex. He pulled out and it followed.
- It looked like a quarter of a cup. It was enough to literally pour out of me and it pooled on the sheets.
- Light spotting or a few drops of blood during sex is probably just due to chafing of the fragile tissue in the vagina. No biggie. A lot of blood like this or even just enough to coat your partners member is cause for worry. Do check your schedule, though. He may just have kick started your period.
- It was not my period. It was nowhere near that time of the month and I - in any case - never bleed that much or all at once. THe blood was also fresh with no clots, like a nosebleed.
- If at any point, during or outside of sex, blood starts randomly pouring out of ANY orifice (not just the vagoo) get it looked at. Even if it stops on its own. It is not a normal reaction. (Comments on knife-play not appreciated).
- I was 26 years old when this happened and it was relatively short time after having a scheduled pap smear (maybe 6 months?).
- I had previously been treated for genital warts (thanks a bunch Kenneth!) and have a low resistance to any wart-related vira, including the HPV virus which can trigger cell anomalies in the cervix.
- I have since gotten the HPV vaccine, since even if I have already had this s**t, it will strengthen the immune system. Apart from dizzyness and a slight fever, I had no side effects from the vaccine, and I REALLY REALLY recommend getting it. Mand, woman, all benefits. (You can carry and infect women with HPV as a male). And for the love of Gods: Get your kids vaccinated!!
- The procedure is called a LEEP (Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure). These are done when you have localized cancer cells on the cervix and just removes the area with the abnormal cells. When the cancer is a higher stage, a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), and/or chemotherapy with radiation are the usual courses of treatment.
- Side/after effects of LEEP were very slight. I was sore and not allowed to swim, do heavy lifting or have sex for 4 weeks. That was it.
- You can still get pregnant without a cervix, it is just harder because it isn't there to "funnel" in the sperm. You also have a greater risk of not carrying to term, but there are procedures to help with that.

If you want more info on this type of cancer, go to Jo's trust:
https://www.jostrust.org.uk/

Back in 2017, I had been having back pain for several months. I finally went to urgent care one day when the pain was unbearable. They sent me immediately to the ER. I was admitted to the hospital and was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. It had spread to my liver and bones. My life completely changed that day. When faced with dying, I realized that I wanted to live. Before this, I had my suicide completely planned out. I feel like things happen for a reason and things work out the way they are supposed to. I'm a new person today. I spend every day fighting for a life that I wanted to throw away.

My brother was 2 when he was diagnosed. It started with zero energy. Instead of playing or wanting to be outside or normal toddler high energy, he wanted to nap on the couch. Then he started throwing up because of smells from my stepmoms cooking. Eggs especially which used to be his fave. Then he was dizzy constantly and had a hard time walking which previously wasn’t a problem. The dizzy made him throw up more.

Stage 4 brain cancer. 2% chance of living.
Massive brain surgery and he’s 23 and still with us! His cognitive ability was severely affected due to tumor location so I’d say cognitively he’s more 13 then 23. He’ll never be able to drive a car or have kids but he’s happy and he’s the hardest working 23 year old I know.
It just sucks for him because he’s smart enough to know he’s different then peers his age but cognitively damaged enough that he can’t make himself fit in.