These women work to kick colon cancer in ‘Worldclass’ style
GMA
(NEW YORK) — A growing number of people under 50 are being diagnosed with more advanced stages of colon cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
The 2020 death of 43-year-old actor Chadwick Boseman due to colon cancer drew attention to the shift, and “Dawson’s Creek” star James Van Der Beek, 47, announced his Stage 3 colorectal cancer diagnosis in November.
A diagnosis at a younger age was also the case for Brooks Bell, a Raleigh, North Carolina, entrepreneur who ran a data analytics company. At 38, she was alarmed to discover blood after using the rest room.
She said she called a telehealth doctor, who told her it may be hemorrhoids. She decided to get second and third opinions, which led to a colonoscopy referral and diagnosis.
“I found out that it was Stage 3 colon cancer,” Bell told “GMA3.”
In a different case, Los Angeles stylist Sarah Beran’s doctors suspected a parasite could be causing her symptoms. Ultimately, she said a colonoscopy revealed the truth.
“They found over 100 polyps on my colon, a mass on my rectum,” the 34-year-old said. “And that’s when my world changed.”
She had to undergo a colon transplant and 12 rounds of chemotherapy.
Even though the pair lived on opposite sides of the U.S., their experiences brought them together after Bell shared her story online.
“I reached out and asked her how I could get involved and help, so that more people don’t have to go through what we went through,” Beran said. “And we teamed up.”
The duo dreamed up a fashion brand with a cause, Worldclass. The streetwear and athleisure line includes hoodies, crewneck sweatshirts, tees, hats and totes — all designed to break the stigma about colon cancer.
“All proceeds go towards a colonoscopy fund that helps underinsured communities get screened,” Beran said. “So literally saving lives through fashion.”
Convincing people to get screenings has a specific goal, Bell noted.
“With colon cancer, we should be talking about prevention, being able to avoid the entire cancer experience, period, rather than just talking about early detection,” she said.
A proactive approach to health can make a huge difference, according to Beran.
“A colonoscopy is way easier than going through chemo and the surgeries and all the icky stuff that we went through,” she said. “So we’re lucky that we did catch ours in time and that we did advocate for ourselves. And we got in there and got our colonoscopies. And now we’re here now telling our story.”
Beauty influencer Ashley Stobart discusses how she got a facelift after removing fillers from her face/ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Celebrities are increasingly opening up about reversing cosmetic procedures and swearing off dermal fillers, but some have discovered it can come with unexpected consequences.
“Friends” actress Courteney Cox spoke about removing her fillers on the “Gloss Angeles” podcast in 2023.
“I was just doing too many fillers and then having to have them removed which, thank God they are removable, but I think I’ve messed — I messed up a lot and now, luckily, I can, you know, I was able to reverse most of that,” the 60-year-old said.
“IMPACT x Nightline: Facelift: After Fillers?” streams on Hulu beginning Jan. 23.
Reality TV star Lala Kent known for “Vanderpump Rules” discussed her change of heart with BravoTV.com.
“I wanna stop with the lips, I wanna stop with the fillers, you know, it’s just enough is enough,” the 34-year-old said. “I’m starting to look at the comments and compare photos, I’m not about it anymore.”
In 2023, model Blac Chyna told “Impact x Nightline” about how losing weight prompted her to have cosmetic work reversed at age 34.
“As I started to slim down, my features started to really come out, like my cheekbones and everything. So with all the filler, that started to really protrude out now that my face has become slimmer,” she said. “It served its purpose, like I’m just, I’m cutting ties with it so I can move on to the next chapter in my life.”
UK beauty influencer and podcaster Ashley Stobart shares her reflections on cosmetic procedures with followers on her podcast “Nip, Tuck, Not Giving A…” She got nonsurgical injections of lip filler when she was 18 — the earliest age it’s legal to do so in her country.
“It was just that quick fix I needed for maybe loss of volume, wanting bigger lips, bigger cheeks, the jaw filler, the chin filler, the nose filler,” she told ABC News. “I was having all the filler.”
Hyaluronic acid, which is commonly used for fillers, is a gel-like substance that’s injected into spaces to give an appearance of plumpness, according to ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton.
He noted that the internet is flooded with ads for med spas offering seemingly cheap deals on fillers and Botox.
“When you scroll online, you see advertisements for things like fillers — that should be a red flag,” Sutton said. “When you see people looking for customers, aka patients, trying to do procedures that they may not be fully skilled in doing, selling it at a discount, you know, these should be red flags.”
These injectables are sometimes described as dissolving over time, but Sutton said this isn’t always the case.
“We’re learning more and more that many of these substances are persistent in people’s bodies for longer than they may think,” he said. “And that exposes people to risks that we are only beginning to understand.”
When Stobart got pregnant, it meant she took a break from topping up her filler. Then she realized it hadn’t worn off.
“There were just multiple layers of treatments that I had accumulated over the years,” she said. “I’m looking bigger and puffier than ever.”
She decided to get her fillers reversed, but dissolving more than a decade’s worth of substances she had in her face left her with sagging skin. So she opted to get a face-lift at age 34.
She’s not alone. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons said that while the overwhelming majority of facelifts are still among people over 50, their members have observed an increase among people in their 40s and younger.
Even though Stobart had some of her fillers removed already, she said the face-lift surgery was grueling.
“They found a lot of hyaluronic acid, or remnants of some injectable at some point that I had had. They were pushing it out for hours,” she told ABC News. “I was in surgery for 9.5 hours in total. That wasn’t anticipated because when he opened everything up, it turned out there was still a lot left in there.”
Dr. Darien Sutton warned that the face is among the most complicated areas in the body due to the composition of blood vessels, nerves. and muscles, so the surgery requires expertise.
“The risk of complication is so high, and the risk of disfigurement is so high, that you have to make sure you’re doing it with someone who knows exactly what they’re doing,” he said.
Some people in their 20s and 30s are also sharing their surgical lift stories on social media. Ryan Joers is 26 years old, and started his cosmetic journey almost a decade ago with fillers.
“I had always seen on social media, other influencers,” he told ABC News. “Kylie Jenner, at that time was, I think, 16 years old, getting her lips done, and just seeing that kind of noise everywhere, seeing the influencers apply products to their lips that were beautiful and full was a big motivator.”
In the years that followed, Joers enjoyed being able to address perceived imperfections with filler. However, that changed when he was around 22.
“That was when I would smile — I didn’t see anything other than my lips,” he said. “I would see photos and videos of myself and just see lips.”
He acknowledged that he didn’t fully understand how fillers work when he first started getting them.
“Our knowledge on fillers was not what it was today, it was ‘fillers aren’t permanent.’ So you need more, you need more, you need more,” he said. “So I never really got the opportunity at first to understand different types of filler, how they interact differently in the body.”
After that, Joers began to undo what he had spent thousands of dollars and years of his life doing. He had some of his fillers dissolved and got a rhinoplasty, which is a plastic surgery that reshapes the nose. Then, at 25, he got a brow and eye lift.
“It was an interesting landscape, being, you know, a younger man — it comes with a lot of judgment from plastic surgeons,” he said. “You have to admit to someone not only that you made mistakes, but that you’re not happy with the way you look. And that’s a very vulnerable thing with anyone, whether it’s a friend or a doctor.”
Joers believes surgical lifts were his best option due to the limitations of the nonsurgical options available at med spas.
“I’m happier now with the way my face looks, given that surgery was an intervention or an option of altering my chin, altering my nose, altering my face in a way that naturally would have not been possible or achievable through a med spa procedure,” he said.
He hasn’t been afraid to be open and vulnerable about his journey, posting about his recovery and before-and-after shots on TikTok. His videos have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, and he hopes telling his story will help those who are just starting their cosmetic journeys.
“I’m grateful for my experience, even the bad of it, because that’s how I got here,” he said. “Through that, I was able to learn and make better decisions when it came to permanent solutions.”
Having followed a similar path, Ashley Stobart told ABC News she hopes others learn from her story.
“I would just say, don’t rush into anything unless you’re 100% sure and you understand all of the pros and cons,” she said.
Jessie Owen was left paralyzed nearly 12 years ago when a tree fell on a car in which she was a passenger. Via ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — Nearly 12 years ago, Jessie Owen’s life changed forever.
“My family was going over a mountain pass and a tree fell on our car. In that moment, my parents passed away, my siblings were severely injured, and I became quadriplegic,” Owen said. “I lost my independence. I lost my job. I lost my apartment. I lost my autonomy and the life that I dreamed for myself.”
Like Owen, more than 300,000 people live with spinal cord injuries in the United States, with an estimated 18,000 new cases each year, data shows.
Motor vehicle accidents account for the majority of spinal cord injuries and are closely followed by falls, acts of violence and sports activities, according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center.
For years, options for recovery have been limited, but a newly FDA-cleared external spinal stimulator, ARC-EX Therapy, which received clearance on Dec. 19, may offer hope for people like Owen.
“ARC-EX is simply electrodes attached to skin on the back of the neck,” explained Chet Moritz, M.D., a professor of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Washington. “It allows us to pass current through the skin to activate the sensory nerves as they enter the spinal cord. Now, those sensory nerves make direct connections to the motor nerves which help people to move.”
Owen, who participated in the Up-LIFT study, a clinical trial focusing on the health benefits of ARC-EX Therapy, saw a life-changing impact.
“I was wildly surprised and pleased to see that it was making meaningful change in my life. I can now paint with my hands. I can open a jar of peanut butter. I can tie my shoes. It [used to] take me 30 minutes to get dressed. Now it takes 12. [I used to require] 20 caregiving hours a week and I was able to move down to about eight.”
The Up-LIFT study produced promising results.
Of the 60 patients with cervical spinal cord injuries studied, 72% saw improvements in hand strength and function. Participants also reported fewer muscle spasms, better sleep, less pain, and improved independence during daily activities.
“The success of [this] study of people with spinal cord injuries is phenomenal,” noted Moritz. “There are essentially no current therapies for chronic spinal cord injury, and so having the majority of patients respond in both strength and function measures [is] just an outstanding result.”
With FDA approval, ARC-EX Therapy is expected to become more accessible.
“Patients can work with their local rehabilitation clinics to see a therapist and work with them in the clinic at first to tune the device,” Moritz said. Results may appear quickly — some participants noticed changes within just a few sessions, he added.
While the device is currently cleared for improving hand strength, function and sensation, Moritz noted other benefits: “Some people will have modest improvements in their bladder function, heart rate, or blood pressure control.”
Leah Croll, M.D., vascular neurologist at Maimonides Health and assistant professor of neurology at SUNY Downstate, shared the excitement over the device.
“The idea that ARC-EX Therapy may accelerate or augment neurologic recovery is really exciting. Any improvement in neurologic function is meaningful and has far-reaching impact in the daily lives of these patients and their families,” she said.
The road to recovery after a spinal cord injury is grueling, Croll said.
“After emergency and ICU care is completed, the mainstay of treatment is working closely with physical therapists, occupational therapists and other rehabilitation professionals to support neurologic recovery,” said Croll. “Patients may also need medications and certain procedures, depending on their unique symptoms.”
For Owen and others, ARC-EX Therapy represents a renewed sense of hope and an exciting change in the way these patients can be treated.
“[With ARC-EX Therapy], I continued to gain function back, and I found I was able to pour more into other people,” Owen said. “The first indicator of success that I noticed was my own happiness. It works, and it gives us hope and passion.”
Natalie S. Rosen, M.D., is a physician in the Hematology & Oncology Department at New York-Presbyterian Columbia and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(CHINA) — Chinese health officials are reportedly monitoring an increase in cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV).
There is currently no evidence that the outbreak is out of the ordinary or that a new respiratory virus or illness has emerged in China.
A spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO) said data from China indicates “there has been a recent rise in acute respiratory infections” but that “the overall scale and intensity of respiratory infectious diseases in China this year are lower than last year.”
Cases of HMPV have been steadily increasing in the U.S. since November 2024 with 1.94% of weekly tests positive for HMPV as of Dec. 28, 2024, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By comparison, 18.71% of weekly tests were positive for flu and 7.10% were positive for COVID during the same week, the data shows.
Public health experts told ABC News that HMPV is well-known to health care professionals and commonly circulates during respiratory virus season.
“This is that winter respiratory virus season, indeed,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, told ABC News. “So, all of these respiratory viruses — influenza, COVID, RSV, human metapneumovirus — they all increase this time of the year, in part because we get so close to each other.”
“We spend time indoors and, of course, all of this holiday traveling, family get-together, and parties have been opportunities for us to get close together and for the virus to be transmitted,” he continued.
Here’s what you need to know about HMPV, including what it is, how it spreads and how to treat it.
What is HMPV?
HMPV is a virus that can cause upper and lower respiratory disease, according to the CDC.
It was discovered in 2001 and is in the Pneumoviridae family along with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, the CDC said.
Over the years, there has been a better understanding and awareness of HMPV, which has led to broader testing, according to the federal health agency.
“Human metapneumovirus is another one of those respiratory viruses that we’re now appreciating more because we have the diagnostic capability to actually diagnose it more readily in hospitals, emergency rooms and even in physicians’ offices,” Schaffner said. “Now we have diagnostic panels that can tell you whether you have influenza or COVID or RSV or human metapneumovirus.”
What are the symptoms?
HMPV has an incubation period of three to six days, according to the CDC.
Symptoms include cough, nasal congestion, fever and shortness of breath, the federal health agency said.
“It’s oftentimes indistinguishable from the other respiratory viruses, because we don’t usually check for it unless somebody is really ill,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and an infectious diseases specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News.
Young children and adults aged 65 and older are among those at the highest risk of HMPV progressing to bronchitis or pneumonia.
How does it spread?
HMPV can spread through secretions from coughing and sneezing, close personal contact and touching objects that have the virus and then touching the eyes, nose or mouth, according to the CDC.
In the U.S., like other respiratory viruses, HMPV cases typically rise in the winter and decrease in the spring.
Chin-Hong said most people are exposed to HMPV by the time they’re five years old. People can get reinfected, but symptoms are typically milder.
Those who are immunocompromised or are older may experience more severe symptoms if they are reinfected.
Is there treatment for HMPV?
There are no antivirals to treat HMPV, so treatment consists of providing supportive care to patients with moderate or severe symptoms, the experts said.
“If you’re wheezing, we’ll give bronchodilators,” Chin-Hong said, referencing a medication that relaxes and opens the airways and helps clear mucus from the lungs. “If you’re dehydrated, we give fluid; we reduce the fever.”
Chin-Hong said that because people may develop co-infections, including bacterial infections, antibiotics may need to be given.
How do I prevent HMPV?
There is no vaccine to prevent HMPV, so prevention includes following basic hygiene including washing hands with soap and water, covering the nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing and staying home when sick.
“People who are in this high-risk group for any of these viruses — particularly older people, people who are frail, people who are immune-compromised — if they go indoors where there are a lot of people, [they should] put their mask back on and also consider social distancing,” Schaffner said.
Chin-Hong and Schaffner added that it’s important for people to receive vaccines for other respiratory illnesses including COVID-19, flu and RSV.
Getting vaccinated against other respiratory viruses can reduce the risk of co-infection and may help health care professionals rule out certain illnesses much sooner.
“Sure, you can get serious disease from HMPV itself, but if you get HMPV plus pneumococcus or HMPV plus influenza or RSV, it could be much worse,” Chim-Hong said. “During respiratory virus season, you want to minimize the probability of co-infection.”
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report
