Beloved influencer Carolina Reyes, best known as ‘Carol The Warrior,’ on social media, has passed away from cancer. She was only 23 years old.
Carolina revealed in October 2025 that she had been suffering from health issues and went to a hospital in Cali. Doctors diagnosed her with fluid in her lungs and drained several fluid-filled sacs.
“You can’t imagine how devastated my uncle was to see me in such pain,” she said at the time. “They had to bathe me, dress me, everything.”
Carolina shared frequent updates on her health on her page. In December 2025, the content creator called the past year “the most difficult chapter of [her] life.”
“The year in which I cried the most, suffered the most, but also the year in which I learned the most has ended,” she wrote via Instagram. “A year that broke me into pieces, but it also taught me to build myself from scratch. I realized that life doesn’t wait, the people you love won’t always be there and that sometimes pain is the price of truly loving.”
Carolina continued, “This year showed me how strong I can be, even when I felt like I couldn’t anymore. And now, as I bid farewell to this year, I’m not just closing a cycle. I close a version of myself. Because even though it hurt, I’m ready to never give up again. 🙏🏽🤍💫 Thank you my God, thank you 2025 💪🏾.”
The following month, she announced that she had been diagnosed with cancer, as reported by NeedToKnow.
Carolina shared stories related to her chemotherapy treatments on social media, quickly racking up a large following and earning her the nickname ‘Carol the Warrior’.
She had recently returned from a trip to Brazil just before her passing, sharing pictures online of her vacation.
Her most recent post before her passing showed her in Rio de Janeiro, captioned: ‘Everything is fine.’
Why More Young People Are Being Diagnosed With Cancer
While we don’t know yet what kind of cancer Carolina was suffering from, the American Cancer Society says cancer incidence is rising for many common cancers in younger adults, especially women under 50, like Carolina. At the same time, overall cancer mortality in people under 50 has generally fallen over the long term, with one major exception: colorectal cancer mortality has increased in this age group.
Cancer has long been seen as a disease of older age, and that is still largely true. The National Cancer Institute notes that cancer risk rises sharply with age, and most U.S. diagnoses still occur in people 50 and older. But researchers have been increasingly concerned that some cancers are showing up more often in younger adults than in past decades.
One of the clearest examples is colorectal cancer. Multiple reviews and recent studies show that colorectal cancer diagnoses have been increasing in adults under 50 in the United States and in several other high-income countries, even while rates in older adults have improved, partly because of screening.
The American Cancer Society’s 2025 data also highlighted another striking pattern: among people younger than 50, cancer incidence in women has pulled further ahead of men. According to ACS, the incidence rate in women under 50 rose from 51% higher than men’s in 2002 to 82% higher in 2021, the latest year of incidence data in that report.
Globally, researchers have also reported a broader rise in the burden of early-onset cancers, although experts caution that “burden” and “risk” are not always the same thing. Some of the increase reflects real changes in age-adjusted incidence for certain cancers, while some can also reflect population growth, better detection, and shifts in how cancers are recorded.
What May Be Causing It?
There is no single proven cause. The best answer right now is that experts think multiple factors are probably interacting.
1. Obesity and metabolic problems
Excess body weight is one of the leading suspected drivers behind some early-onset cancers, especially colorectal cancer. Research has linked obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes to higher risk, and one large prospective study found that women with obesity had nearly double the risk of early-onset colorectal cancer compared with women in a lower BMI range.
2. Diet changes
Researchers frequently point to modern dietary patterns: more ultra-processed foods, more processed meat, more sugar-sweetened drinks, less fiber, and in some populations more sodium. These habits may contribute to inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and gut changes that can raise cancer risk over time. Diet-related risk has been discussed particularly for early-onset gastrointestinal cancers.
3. Sedentary lifestyle
Less daily movement and more sitting may also play a role. Studies on early-onset colorectal cancer have linked physical inactivity with higher risk, often alongside obesity and poor diet rather than as a completely separate issue.
4. Alcohol and smoking
Alcohol use remains a known cancer risk factor, and smoking still contributes to many cancers. Some younger-adult cancer trends may partly reflect exposure to these risks over time, even if smoking rates have declined in the broader population.
5. Changes in reproductive patterns
For some cancers, especially breast cancer, researchers have noted that later age at first birth and having fewer children may be part of the explanation for rising incidence trends. The ACS 2026 facts report points to excess body weight, later age at first birth, and decreased childbirth as contributors to breast cancer increases.
6. The microbiome and early-life exposures
Another major area of interest is the gut microbiome — the bacteria and other microorganisms living in the digestive tract. Scientists suspect that antibiotic exposure, diet, environmental chemicals, and other early-life influences may alter the microbiome in ways that affect inflammation, metabolism, and cancer risk later on. This is still an active research area, but it is one of the leading hypotheses for why some cancers are appearing earlier in life.
7. Better awareness and detection
Not every increase means more cancer is biologically developing. In some cases, more imaging, more doctor visits, updated screening guidance, and greater awareness can lead to more diagnoses. Experts say this may explain part of the trend for some cancers, but it does not appear to fully explain increases such as early-onset colorectal cancer.
What Young Adults Should Do
The takeaway is not to panic. It is to pay attention.
Younger adults should not assume they are “too young” for cancer symptoms to matter. Ongoing rectal bleeding, unexplained weight loss, lasting fatigue, breast changes, persistent abdominal pain, trouble swallowing, or major changes in bowel habits deserve medical attention. Staying active, limiting alcohol, avoiding smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, and eating a higher-fiber, less heavily processed diet are still among the most evidence-based ways to lower risk. Screening also matters: colorectal cancer screening in average-risk adults now starts at age 45 in the U.S.
