‘I Was Being Made Out to Be Crazy’

A woman is sharing her story about how doctors made her out “to be crazy” regarding her symptoms before she finally received a rectal cancer diagnosis.

Heather Barry, a 36-year-old Boston mother of three, chronicled her health journey with Today, revealing that she started to experience strange symptoms just after giving birth to her third daughter in May 2023.

She told the outlet that she constipated all the time and had “bum pressure,” hemorrhoids and blood in her stool, but her primary care doctor allegedly just kept prescribing her stool softeners and told her to eat more fiber. But then the constipation got so bad that she all but stopped eating and lost close to 30 pounds by fall 2023.

“I had bleeding that was happening 90% of the time whenever I would go to the bathroom, and very little [stool] to none would come out. It felt like there was something in there, blocking,” she recalled.

Related: After 180 Chemo Treatments for Colon Cancer, a Mom Faces Her End: ‘Who Would Ever Want to Leave This Beautiful World?’

Barry then looked up her symptoms online and found that they matched with colorectal cancer. “I had every single thing, but now it’s three doctors who have told me I’m OK. I was like, ‘Alright, I guess I’m just crazy,’ ” she said.

Eventually, a doctor ordered a colonoscopy for her in January 2024, but the doctors couldn’t do the procedure because she had a 2-inch tumor completely obstructing her rectum. That’s when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 rectal cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes at Massachusetts General.

“In an odd way, it was a relief because I knew I wasn’t crazy, and I felt like I was being made out to be crazy,” she emphasized to Today.

She was given a colostomy bag so that she could continue to eat and use the bathroom and then underwent rounds of chemotherapy.

Her treatment has resulted in her being unable to have more babies, but she told the outlet that her family is “complete” with her three daughters.

Related: They Married in 2020. The Next Year He Was Diagnosed with Cancer — 12 Months Later, Her Diagnosis Followed (Exclusive)

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Barry has since responded to chemotherapy and her tumor marker levels are undetectable. In October 2024, she had her rectum and surrounding area removed, and then her colon was reconnected to give her a working digestive system.

Dr. Ted Hong, who treated Barry at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Today that there’s no “obvious” reason as to why doctors are seeing a “dramtaic increase” of onset colorectal cancer in young women.

Barry hopes people will think about her story when taking care of their health. “I don’t want to let this happen to anybody else. If I can resonate with anyone, even if it is just one person — a mom, a dad, a sister, a friend, whoever it be — keep pushing, because if it doesn’t feel right, continue and you will get the answers you need,” she said.

Read the original article on People