I started finding blood in my stool in the fall of 2013, but at the time, it didn’t seem that strange to me. Constipation runs in my family, and I’ve always been easily constipated. But water’s my solution to everything, so I figured I just needed to drink more of it.

A few months later, I started feeling really out of breath after even the slightest activity, and whenever I lifted something heavy, I’d throw up right afterwards...