Zero to 100: Spencer Vereecken's Battle with Colorectal Cancer

Spencer Vereecken didn't ignore his slight pain in early 2019. He couldn't. After a friend died of lung cancer, which originated in his liver before infecting other parts of his body, Vereecken knew the potential dangers of waiting, seeing and hoping the discomfort would pass.

Vereecken, now 39, was active and athletic growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he still lives. His life wasn't atypical, either; he has a wife and two children (one at the time of his diagnosis) and co-owns an IT company, where he loves to work. He didn't notice other glaring serious symptoms, reporting a pang in the lower abdomen which he thought was likely a pulled muscle or possible hernia.

"When I went in there, the doctor began pushing on the muscle and immediately said, 'Well, that's not a hernia by any means,'" Vereecken said.

After this initial meeting, he received an X-ray and bloodwork, which revealed an elevated white-blood-cell count. Next came an MRI, and before any further testing, the doctor said the image looked like colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The term includes cancers formed in the colon and in the rectum. Most colorectal cancers feature growths called polyps, which can become cancerous tumors over time. It's estimated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Cancer Society that more than 52,000 people will die from this disease in 2022.

"I had no idea that it was there," Vereecken said. "I had no prior testing. It was all of a sudden I have a little pain and then, full-blown, you have a softball-sized tumor."

The pain wasn't even bad. Vereecken said he dealt with the slight discomfort for about two weeks, using ibuprofen to combat the "sore muscle." Fortunately, he had a doctor's appointment already scheduled, which enabled him to receive testing and a probable diagnosis quickly.

"I wasn't messing around," Vereecken said. "My buddy who passed away probably could have prevented it if he had gone in and not been a dude about it. I've heard the story of the person who waits too long, and I wasn't going to do that."

After the MRI revealed the likelihood of cancer, Vereecken canceled a meeting he had planned and returned home to give his wife the news. The pair set to meet with the doctor to establish a plan in hopes of receiving a definitive diagnosis.

The initial sequence involved steps to have the tumor removed within two weeks, and in the meantime, he would take antibiotics to keep the inflammation down and continue on with his work and life.

"Two days later, I'm at work, standing in the doorway of my co-worker's office, and a sharp pain hits me and I drop to my knees," he said. "'What the fudge is that?' So I drove myself to the ER and met my wife there. My tumor ruptured or perforated, exploded."

Vereecken underwent emergency surgery that night. A foot of his colon was removed, and when he woke up, he discovered a quarter of his abdomen had been scraped out and an ostomy bag was attached to his side.

"So you have this little red piece of your small intestine sticking out, and it was the one thing I didn't want to have to happen," Vereecken said. "In my abdomen, it looked like I had a huge gash, like a 'Game of Thrones' scar."

To recover from surgery, Vereecken was required to rest in the hospital for 10 days. For seven of those days, he didn't eat, resulting in a loss of about 40 pounds. The tumor tested positive for cancer with a stage IIIC designation, meaning it spread to the abdomen and nearby lymph nodes. Due to the tumor exploding, the doctors directed him to undergo chemotherapy to ensure there was no further spread.

"After surgery, you're going back and forth with yourself like, 'Maybe it's not cancer,'" Vereecken said. "However, it was pretty comforting because it was pre-COVID, and I had people coming in and spending time with me. I don't remember much but I do remember when they came in and told me, and to me, it was all about, 'What's next?'"

"I didn't hesitate," Vereecken said about the postsurgery process. "I didn't wait because I've seen those who wait and get other opinions and then by the time they make an adjustment, they're stage IV."

Vereecken credits the sequence of events to his ability to adjust on the fly. He's a problem-solver by nature, and because things were coming at him so quickly, he figured the best way forward was to maintain an attitude geared toward proactivity.

"Everything was also cut and dry," he said. "It happened all so fast. Finding out and coming up with a plan was all laid out for me before I left the hospital. We trusted our doctors and we went with what they said."

He said he knew nothing about colorectal cancer before his circumstance, but as the process of healing and maintenance played out, he began to finally learn about his affliction.

"I honestly started to learn more about it after the fact because I just wanted to put my head down and work," Vereecken said.

Over the course of his 12 weeks of chemotherapy, Vereecken was constantly screened and monitored, with backup surgeries and plans being discussed in case more cancer was discovered. However, in late October, following his completed course and more tests, he was deemed cancer-free.

"Chemo wasn't fun, but the ostomy, to me, was the worst part of the entire process," he said. "At that point, I'd been dealing enough with poo with my new daughter, so when I got that sealed up, I felt really relieved."

One aspect highlighted over the course of his eight-month battle was how little awareness he had of the disease. He'd heard about breast cancer and other types, but colorectal cancer represented a mystery right up until he was lying in a hospital bed with an ostomy bag.

"Right away, right out of the gate, after my last surgery, I knew I wanted to do more with this," he said. "Not everyone else has the support system, mindset or the drive, and I just felt like I needed to share how I sort of approached everything."

Vereecken said he's comfortable speaking in front of people, so he felt it was necessary to be vocal and raise awareness for other men and women dealing with colorectal cancer. He's particularly vocal about encouraging men to seek screenings, considering how sudden his own battle developed.

"I just had this gut feeling of being pulled toward [advocacy], so I just went with it," he said.

He joined the patient advisory council at his local Spectrum Health hospital, and eventually became involved in the local Get Your Rear In Gear race and Colon Club, an organization that emphasizes how colorectal cancer can strike people before the age of 45. He also advocates with the Colon Cancer Coalition.

"I'm still learning," Vereecken said. "I'm still meeting survivors and you just learn more and more. I just want people to keep on themselves, stay on your doctor. Keep up to speed on your health and make sure you give yourself help or give others help. It's not easy to go through."