Pushing Forward: How a Young Lawyer Rebounded from Stage 3 Colon Cancer

In June 2024, the stops on Jackson Auer’s life GPS looked well-set. 

Move to and get settled in Kansas City. Study for (and pass) the bar exam in July. Become an attorney. That was the roadmap for the recent University of Missouri School of Law graduate, and for a few weeks, he looked primed to arrive at each without delay. 

Unfortunately, life had other plans. Weeks shy of the bar exam—and days before his 26th birthday—the trajectory of Jackson’s life was rocked off course when he was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. 
 

An unplanned detour

A few weeks after arriving in Kansas City, Jackson began feeling stomach pain. He chalked it up to the stress of test prep or something he ate. But when the discomfort continued and he became dehydrated, his girlfriend, Rachel, convinced him to visit Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City’s Emergency Department. 

Jackson figured it was nothing. A CT scan suggested otherwise, uncovering a narrowing in his colon that prompted the medical team to perform a colonoscopy. The scope revealed a tumor that was blocking nearly all of Jackson’s colon. 

“Colon obstructions are like having hair in your drain and the water is pooling in the sink slowly getting across the clogged pipe,” says colorectal surgeon Benjamin J. Kulow, MD. “When this happens, the urgency for surgery rises, and we were in a position where surgery was needed not only for cancer care but also to avoid a more pressing issue of impending obstruction.”  

Dr. Kulow and his team performed a laparoscopic partial transverse colectomy to remove the growth, and Jackson was released a week later. 

A couple of hours after being discharged, Dr. Kulow called with the stage 3 cancer diagnosis. While there was no evidence of residual disease, the high recurrence rate of his cancer meant Jackson had to quickly come to grips with the road ahead. 

“I felt like this was happening to me right when I was, finally, starting the rest of my life,” Jackson says. “So, I felt like I had to put everything on pause.” 

An arduous path
The news jarred Jackson. He felt healthy and thought he was too young for this kind of health crisis. But according to the American Cancer Society, colon cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death for men under 50. After the initial shock wore off, Jackson and his oncology team went to work, led by gastrointestinal oncologist Marc T. Roth, MD, and his team at the Saint Luke’s Cancer Institute.

Jackson continued studying for his exam, taking it at the end of July, as he originally planned. The following week, he began adjuvant chemotherapy, a treatment designed to improve cure rates after cancer surgery. 

“Patients often wonder why they need chemotherapy after a curative surgery with negative margins, but we know that some patients are at a higher risk of recurrence without further intervention, and chemotherapy can increase their odds of cure,” Dr. Roth says. “I use the term ‘mop up’ chemotherapy to indicate that it is getting rid of any residual cancer cells after the bulk of the tumor is removed during surgery.”

The process wasn’t easy. Jackson returned to the hospital in early September after a bad reaction to chemotherapy pills. The team decided to administer Jackson’s chemotherapy exclusively through an IV rather than pills and provided him a home setup to decrease his time in the clinic. He passed the bar and continued working through his chemotherapy regimen, finishing his last round in late January.

“I thought the care I received from the Saint Luke’s team was as good as it gets,” says Jackson. “Dr. Roth and his team were great and did an amazing job just guiding me through the journey and helping keep me positive and level-headed throughout.”
 

A healthier road ahead
The early detection and treatment now have Jackson back in the groove. His recent scans and tumor markers showed no evidence of cancer post-chemotherapy, and he’s been able to resume the active life befitting a 26-year-old. Plus, he and Rachel recently got engaged. 

His experience with cancer has also transformed Jackson’s mindset (and his immediate family’s) about the benefits of preventive health. A screening of 71 different genes showed no genetic variants that would’ve forecasted a colon cancer diagnosis, but everyone in his immediate family got a colonoscopy just to be certain. 

“Colorectal cancer is an emerging epidemic in the United States and, really, globally for patients under the age of 40,” Dr. Roth says. “The vast majority of those cases are not related to anything that was passed down through their family.”

Jackson’s advice to anyone—stay informed so you’re ready for whatever comes at you. 

"The rise of colon cancer in young people, it's becoming a lot more prevalent. The only way you can catch it early and make sure you're going to be around for a long time is a colonoscopy,” Jackson says. "Get screened early and go in if you think something is wrong."

To schedule an appointment, visit Gastroenterology | Saint Luke's Health System