India, June 6 -- Damien Scogin learned that colorectal cancer (CRC) can develop in younger and healthy people when his close friend passed from the disease after she was diagnosed in her late 30s. His friend urged him and others to get colorectal screenings and convinced him to get a colonoscopy in his mid-40s after he experienced mild symptoms that were initially attributed to other conditions.

No one is ever prepared to learn they have cancer. Damien says, "I'm a huge outdoor sports enthusiast. I've always stayed very fit and eat a low-risk diet that is more or less vegetarian." When the colonoscopy revealed he had advanced colon cancer, "it was like a hammer hit me in the skull," he says.

Damien is part of a disturbing trend: A persi...