A 25-year-old woman in the United States who couldn’t stop burping has revealed her symptom was caused by undiagnosed, late-stage cancer.
According to People, Bailey McBreen from Florida started burping frequently – up to 10 times a day – in 2021. She put the symptom off for months, but she got checked when it progressed to acid reflux and “excruciating” stomach cramps. Ms McBreen revealed that she was eventually diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, which came as a “huge shock” to her and her family.
“The first sign something was wrong – although I didn’t know it at the time – was when I began excessively burping,” Ms McBreen told NeedToKnow. “I would burp 5-10 times a day. This was not normal for me,” she added.
Ms McBreen explained that her health started deteriorating and she started dealing with “excruciating” pain, a loss of appetite and an inability to go to the bathroom. As a nurse, she then trusted her instincts that she had some sort of “obstruction” and immediately went to the hospital. Later, a CT scan revealed that she had stage 3 colon cancer and a tumour obstructing her large intestine.
“I never thought it could be linked to such a horrible disease,” she said. “It truly was an out-of-body experience,” the 25-year-old added of her diagnosis. “I remember the first thing I could say was, ‘I am not ready to die.’ Never in a million years did I think that any vague symptom I had was actually stage 3 colon cancer,” she said.
Further, Ms McBreen told NeedToKnow.co.uk that she believes the nonstop burping was linked to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which began a month after noticing the burping.
“Excessive burping isn’t your textbook sign of colon cancer – but my oncologist told me that it was likely the start of my symptoms,” she said. “GERD was a symptom in my case because my tumor was slowly causing a complete bowel obstruction,” she added.
According to People, following her diagnosis, Ms McBreen had emergency surgery to remove the tumour. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy until the end of August.
She is now encouraging others to listen to their bodies if something feels off. Notably, colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the world, after lung and breast cancers.
