please help-colon cancer

hi i'm from indonesia and i'm 15 years old, do i have any colon cancer if

when i have a stool the water gets dark? but there is no changes in stools color and there is no blood in it. my family didint have the colon cancer history and if it not colon cancer what does it mean????

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  From your age alone, a diagnosis of colon cancer is doubtful.  Dark stools or stools which darken the water in the bowl may be due to something you ate.  If, for example, you're taking iron containing vitamin supplements, this could produce the kind of situation you described. If you're experiencing other symptoms aside from the dark stools (e.g. fever, abdominal pain, or a persistent urge to move your bowels), you may need to have yourself examined by a doctor just to make sure it isn't anything serious.  But rest assured that it's most likely NOT cancer.