Diagnosed with incurable cancer at 20
Dominique McShain had dreams of becoming a clinical psychologist and a mum.
Both of those things are no longer possible.
In April, at just 20, she was diagnosed with incurable colorectal cancer. One to five years is her prognosis.
In February, McShain had just returned from a holiday in Asia when the “really weird” symptoms started to show.
A week into the first semester back at university, she felt extreme fatigue. She was sleeping about eight to nine hours a night, but then had to sleep another five to six hours during the day.
She started having abnormal bowel movements, and noticed there was blood in her stool. “I just assumed it was normal constipation or haemorrhoids.”
About a month later, she went to her GP, who checked for haemorrhoids and didn’t find any, so ran some blood tests, which showed abnormalities in her liver.
They put it down to an infection, and McShain was told to return the following week for some follow-up tests.
During that week, she lost her appetite, had abdominal pain, and the area around her liver was hard to the touch.
The follow-up tests showed that things had become dramatically worse, and she was sent for an emergency ultrasound.
McShain was admitted to Christchurch Hospital under the assumption she had picked up some type of bug on her Asia travels.
Further tests revealed that she had colorectal cancer, which had spread to her liver and lymph nodes. Several tumours, the largest 9.5cm in diameter, were spread through her liver.
Initial thoughts and conversations McShain had with her family were futurefocused. They discussed things like egg collection, ensuring she could still have kids in the future if she chose to.
“It was while I was still in hospital I asked the oncologist about how that would work, and he told me it would depend on my lifespan.”
McShain was told her cancer was incurable.
She had convinced herself that it wasn’t cancer, and even if it was, it was about beating cancer, never about dying from it.
Her parents and partner held her and, on her small hospital bed, they cried together as the devastating news began to sink in.
The hardest part since had been knowing she would leave people “way too soon”, McShain said.
Plans for her treatment are still being made. She is on her second round of chemotherapy, in the hope it will shrink some of the tumours, as surgery is not an option.
“It is more about prolonging my life. “They said if I was older, 70 or 80, I'd be straight on to end-of-life care, and it's mainly because of my age that they're trying to prolong things.”
McShain feels “really lucky” that her GP listened to her and pushed to have further tests done straight away.
“I think I lot of GPs assume at my age, it will be the most minimal thing.”
Recent research has shown that the rate of early-onset colorectal cancer in people aged under 50 is increasing by 26% every decade.
Christchurch colorectal surgeon Dr Frank Frizelle said they were diagnosing someone with bowel cancer almost daily.
Frizelle said people in their early 20s being diagnosed with bowel cancer was not as common.
“We’re seeing more and more people in their 40s and the second half of their 30s.”
He encouraged people with symptoms like changes in their bowel habits, consistent blood when passing stools or severe fatigue, to see their doctor.
McShain doesn’t believe she could have been diagnosed any earlier than she was. The symptoms just weren’t there.
She has her good and bad days. On her good days, it’s hard to believe she’s sick at all.
“It feels like a bad dream, really, that keeps going on.”
She feels that her psychology studies have helped her know how to cope.
“I always wanted to work in a hospice – I always gravitated towards cancer patients and people going through that. It’s a bit ironic now.
“I’ve always thought my purpose was to help people.”
But she has still found a way to help people – by sharing her experience, and making young people aware of the symptoms that could be a sign of bowel cancer.
A TikTok video McShain made sharing her story has had more than 266,000 views.
McShain recently celebrated her 21st birthday.
She has decided not to make any big plans or bucket lists until it is clearer how much time she has left.
“The first scan after treatment determines a lot. I just want to keep making memories with people.”
She had to stop her study and parttime job in HR when she was diagnosed, and while flatting she has found that the sickness benefit from Work and Income is “nowhere near” enough to live on.
Her family have made a Givealittle page to help with any financial costs and future memory making.
She was not angry, she said, but it was hard to let go of the future she thought she would have.
“There’s this expectation; you assume you’re going to grow old, get married, have kids, grandkids and all that, but actually it’s not guaranteed, so it’s just accepting that.
“A tiny part of me is still hoping for a miracle.”