The cancer quietly killing young people

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

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Summary

If more and more young people are dying of colorectal cancer, why aren't we talking about it? Is it because we're too ashamed of our bodies?

Rates of colorectal cancer are rising, especially for people under 50. But it's hard to raise awareness for a cancer that a lot of us find hard to talk about. In a recent essay for The Cut, writer Laurie Abraham described her experience of colon cancer, which included a lot of embarrassment. Talking about your bowel movements is...not fun. Can you relate?

Today, Brittany is joined by Laurie and Dr. Kimmie Ng, Co-Director of the Colon and Rectal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, to get into the cultural shame around how we talk about colon cancer - and how that extends to a lack of funding and research.

Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from CBS.
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0:13.7	New episodes are available every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:20.6	Hello, hello. I'm Brittany loose, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about
0:26.5	what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident.
0:44.3	I grew up in a family where we weren't exactly shy about bathroom talk. Sorry, Mom and Dad.
0:51.2	Regularity, quality, and any issues that arise were things I felt really comfortable talking about.
0:55.4	But I do remember going to friends' houses where poop talk was a big no-no. And as I grew up, I noticed that culturally, many people never had a chance to grow their
1:01.9	understanding of this essential bodily function, how it works, what it does to keep us healthy,
1:08.2	and what to do when something feels off. And that's creating huge problems in our society.
1:14.3	Somebody born in 1990 now has quadrupled the risk of developing rectal cancer
1:19.5	and over double the risk of developing colon cancer compared to somebody who was born in 1950.
1:25.8	That's Dr. Kimmy Ng, co-director of the Colon and Rectal Cancer Center at the Dana
1:30.8	Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.
1:33.7	I can tell you, it's a really complex thing to study.
1:37.0	And while it's been put out there that obesity and sedentary lifestyles are linked to why this
1:42.4	is happening, I can also tell you that most of my young patients
1:46.0	who I care for in clinic are actually not obese and they're very active and they lead
1:51.2	very healthy lifestyles. So there's likely something else going on.
1:59.5	Colorectal cancer is deadly and diagnoses are ticking up.
2:03.9	One in 25 people are at risk of developing it.
	...

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