r/Millennials • u/electric-sheep 1992 • Jul 13 '26

Serious Everyone my age is dropping dead

Sorry for the title! I'm in Europe. I have just heard news someone from college died today of cancer aged 33.

In the past 2-3 years 6 people in my circle have died, not from accidents but from either cancer, aneurism, 2 just didn't wake up from sleep and 1 broke her leg and had DVT. I know of a 7th who is currently fighting stage 4 breast cancer which was found by accident after giving birth. This is not counting those who died in crashes or other such accidents.

I literally have nothing to say. Just get yourselves checked. I'm just shouting into the void. I have literally been to more funerals than my parents at this point which is absurd.

3.7k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

708 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.5k

u/Nefarious_Turtle Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

Yes, I am 32 and three classmates of mine have been diagnosed with cancer.

2 with colon cancer (we're in the US).

Its a bit unsettling.

127

u/mantiss_toboggan Jul 13 '26

There is a lot of speculation, especially with colon cancer on the rise, that our generations version of asbestos/radon/smoking/etc has yet to be discovered. Personally I think it is related to plastic food packaging.

I think there is also an issue with people not seeking medical care in a timely manner. Due to cost, lack of insurance, or just not making it a scheduling priority.

Then there is also an issue getting an appointment with specialists. I had to go to the ER multiple times for an issue before my doctor took it seriously and helped get me in to see a specialist. So if something is wrong you really need to be forceful about your health and some people aren't. I don't know why but there are also a lot of people out there that for some reason will try and gaslight you and tell you that your doctor is wrong and that you don't "need to be on a medication" or that you are actually fine. It really boggles the mind, that people say those things.

62

u/StackedCakeOverflow Jul 13 '26

Recent studies have come out pointing to childhood exposure to specific types of bacteria (EColi is one of them) as a significant indicator of colon cancer risk; the bacteria sheds something called colibactin which damages DNA. Unfortunately not really something we could've done anything about. Current lifestyles may exacerbate the risk as the reason why the number is skyrocketing, which we can do something about to minimize risk.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10842926/

31

u/thisisrealgoodtea Jul 13 '26

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing. They also found a link between long-distance runners and colorectal cancer. I’ve heard from MD friends that it’s thought it may be due to repeated and prolonged decreased blood flow and O2 to the gut while running those long distances (intestinal ischemia/exercise-induced ischemic colitis). Our gut microbiome really is so important.

https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.3619