Diagnosed at 29, Colorectal Cancer Survivor Finds Purpose in Sharing His Story
For most of his life, Miguel Barvo has faced serious health challenges. He was first diagnosed with cancer at just 16 years old. Since he was a teenager, Miguel has developed melanoma of the skin and multiple sarcomas, along with colon, testicular, breast, eye, kidney, and brain cancer.
After the first few cancers were diagnosed, Miguel had genetic testing that identified a hereditary condition that greatly increases his cancer risk.
Miguel’s condition is called Homologous Recombination Deficiency, or HRD. HRD is an inherited genetic condition. It slows or stops the body’s normal process that fixes damaged genes in our cells. This repair process is called homologous recombination.
For people like Miguel with HRD, damaged cells can’t be repaired. The genes – or pieces of DNA – in the damaged cell are abnormal and don’t work like they should. They either stop working, die off, or survive as abnormal cells. If a damaged cell survives, it can still divide and reproduce. But when it does, the genetic damage is passed on to the new cells that are formed. This leads to more abnormal cells being produced. Cancer can develop when there are gene changes in a cell, also called gene mutations.
For decades, Miguel has been a patient at many cancer centers in the United States and in his family’s home country of Columbia in South America. He and his care teams have been knocking down cancers one by one, and Miguel has faced each new barrier, determined to overcome it and give back.
Refusing to Give Up
Because Miguel’s health history is so complex, at times, it’s been hard for doctors to diagnose him and find the best treatment options. One surgeon who did exploratory surgery found Miguel’s small intestine was nearly completely blocked by cancerous tumors. During one long hospital stay, Miguel was close to death for over two weeks. He’s come back every time and says each experience has taught him that it’s important to be in the driver’s seat of your own treatment.
He encourages everyone to know the questions to ask your doctor when you have cancer. “You can’t just be a passenger. You can’t follow someone else’s lead,” Miguel said. “Ask questions, look into things yourself, find doctors you trust. If I hadn’t kept pushing for myself, I’d be in the ground.”
I believe strongly that I’m here on this earth for a reason, and I tell this to everyone I meet - you’re here for a reason, too.
Unofficial Cancer Mentor
Because Miguel has been dealing with cancer and its treatment for so much of his life, he often becomes an unofficial mentor for others with cancer.
He remembers a particular time during his stay at the American Cancer Society’s Tampa Hope Lodge in Florida. While there, he was surrounded by others who were also in the thick of cancer treatment. But unlike him, most hadn’t been living with multiple cancers for decades.
“So many of the people I met were depressed and on the brink of giving up. I’d tell them, ‘Do not give up,’” he said. “They’d sort of say to me, ‘What do you know?’ And then I’d tell them my story.”
One patient interaction has stuck with Miguel the most. He remembers being in one of the common areas of the Hope Lodge when he saw a woman who had been staying there for a while. On this day, she looked particularly low, so Miguel struck up a conversation. He learned that she had breast cancer and had just undergone a mastectomy. She told him she didn’t have any desire to continue. She wanted to be done.
“I told her, ‘I’ve been where you’ve been,’ and I showed her my own breast cancer scars,” Miguel said. “A month or two later, she sent me a photo of her with her two kids and her husband, riding bikes and looking happy and healthy. She told me I saved her life, but I believe God was using me as an instrument.”
A Life of Service
Whenever Miguel can, he looks for opportunities to serve others who are experiencing cancer or other health problems because he’s seen how important it is for people to feel hopeful and supported in their lowest moments. For five years, he’s been serving as a Eucharistic minister at his church, bringing the Eucharist to people who are homebound or unable to attend mass. He visits nearly 100 people per week and often stays to have a conversation and lift their spirits. He knows that sometimes his visit might be the one thing they look forward to throughout the week.
“They appreciate the consistency when so much else is unpredictable,” Miguel said. “I believe strongly that I’m here on this earth for a reason, and I tell this to everyone I meet - you’re here for a reason, too.”
Miguel continues to deal with the long-term effects of his cancers and treatments. He was also recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that took the life of one of Miguel’s brothers.
Miguel knows ALS will eventually make it difficult for him to do things independently. His goal is to spend as much time as he can encouraging people with cancer, being there for his family members, and giving back to others. He donates to the American Cancer Society because he’s seen firsthand how meaningful it is to have new treatment options made possible by research, along with a place to stay when traveling for care.
Miguel says he would encourage anyone who is going through cancer to take whatever time they have and use it to benefit others.
“You have a different life now. That’s reality,” he says. “You are not the person you were before. But if you’re alive, you’ve been given the chance to help others, and I think you should take that opportunity for as long as you have it.”
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Reviewed by the American Cancer Society communications team.