California Woman Diagnosed With Advanced Colon Cancer After Symptoms During Pregnancy Were Attributed to Hemorrhoids

Gabby Zappia, 37, of Mission Viejo, California, experienced rectal bleeding at six months pregnant with her third child. Her obstetrician attributed the symptom to pregnancy-related hemorrhoids. The day before her due date in June 2024, Zappia saw more blood and described it as blood diarrhea.

She went to OB triage, where staff performed a vaginal exam that found nothing wrong with the baby and then induced labor. Zappia gave birth to her son that month. Her two older children were then ages 4 and 5.

She had no family history of colon cancer. Bleeding continued after delivery. In November 2024, a colonoscopy revealed a mass nearly blocking her entire colon. The mass removed during colon resection surgery one month later was the size of a baseball.

A liver biopsy after the resection confirmed the cancer had spread. Zappia was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in December 2024. After healing from the colon resection, she underwent a second surgery to install a chemotherapy port.

She then received chemotherapy and immunotherapy, followed by liver resection and ablation surgery to remove tumors. A hepatic artery infusion pump was also installed in her abdomen. Zappia finished chemotherapy and had no evidence of disease in September 2025.

A PET scan three months later found new cancer activity in her liver. She underwent a robotic liver resection at the end of 2025. An MRI later revealed a new tumor near the previous site, leading to another liver resection in March 2026.

That procedure marked her third liver surgery. Blood tests in April 2026 found no signs of disease. "I'm still shocked, honestly. I was just heartbroken. I thought that I was invincible before this," Zappia said.

"The mass was the size of a baseball when she ended up taking it out, which is absolutely insane because I'm a small person, too," she said. Zappia said the hardest part of treatment was continuing to meet her children's needs while recovering from surgery and chemotherapy side effects such as bone pain and flu-like symptoms.

She credited her husband with handling nearly all household and childcare responsibilities and noted that friends, family, neighbors, and members of her church provided meals and carpools.

"When you're a mom, you don't get to pause," she said. "Your kids still need you. They still want snacks. " Zappia said she still finds it difficult to slow down. She urged others experiencing rectal bleeding to seek confirmation rather than assume the cause is hemorrhoids.