As NY1 continues our focus on colon cancer this month, a new study reports that there's a steady increase among young adults being diagnosed with the disease, especially those under the age of 35. NY1's Roma Torre spoke with a young cancer survivor who's made it her life's mission to get the facts straight about colorectal cancer among the young. 

Vanessa Ghigliotty is a very busy woman.  She's a 41-year-old dynamo on a crusade against colon cancer, that is young adult colon cancer. As a survivor herself, she knows all too well the added difficulties younger patients face starting with missed diagnoses.

"Unfortunately because we're young a lot of doctors when we go with symptoms they kind of dismiss it as irritable bowel syndrome or food poisoning or not eating healthy enough," says Ghigliotty.

At 27 years old she was a single mother with a young son and feeling like something was very wrong. Her doctors told her she was tired or needed to eat more roughage. After a whole year with worsening symptoms she was finally rushed to a hospital where she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and told to get her affairs in order.

"I had to do everything in place to make sure that my son had things that would be taken care of when I was gone. And after I took care of everything about my death I fought to live. So I'm very lucky that I'm alive. Every day is a gift," says Ghigliotty.

She underwent eight operations and three years of chemotherapy.  And ever since she's vowed to share her gift of life with other young colon cancer patients.

No one understands what it's like for the young adult cancer patient.  Not only does it affect us financially, it affects us emotionally.  I was just building up my life and cancer knocked me down and this is unfortunately the case for other young cancer survivors," says Ghigliotty.

And so Vanessa travels tirelessly throughout the city and beyond advocating for the cause. NY1 recently caught up with her at an event raising money for the Never Too Young Campaign, a coalition of colon cancer organizations helping patients under 50.

Surrounded by other late-stage survivors, Vanessa believes it's never too late to volunteer her precious time.

"Everytime we do an event like this I know that we're saving someone else's life and we're saving someone else's mother," says Ghigliotty.