Christchurch student, 21, with incurable cancer aims to raise awareness

Three weeks before her 21st birthday, Dominique McShain was told she had up to five years left to live.

With her family by her side at the oncology ward in Christchurch Hospital, she learned that her persistent symptoms were due to incurable colorectal cancer.

Just weeks after returning from a holiday to Asia, the third-year psychology student at the University of Canterbury began experiencing extreme fatigue at the start of this year’s first semester.

“I was just constantly sleeping,” she told The Herald.

Despite a full night’s sleep, she found herself needing hours of naps during the day, unable to stay awake for lectures or schoolwork.

Her symptoms escalated to include blood in her stool, alternating constipation and diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and a noticeable loss of appetite. When she felt her liver hard and enlarged, she visited her GP, leading to a series of tests.

Initial blood tests suggested an infection, but a follow-up test a week later revealed further liver deterioration, prompting an emergency ultrasound.

That night, she was admitted to the hospital, where scans uncovered large tumours in her liver. A subsequent biopsy confirmed it was cancer.

“Being told you have cancer was different because I was almost like, ‘Okay, I’ll beat it.’ But once I got the incurable diagnosis, that was devastating,” she said.

“Everyone always seems to be guaranteed a future, and processing that you might not get that is really hard.”

Determined to make a difference in the time she has left, McShain took to TikTok to share her cancer journey and raise awareness about the symptoms.

“I’ve always wanted to help people. I was studying psychology, and I was passionate about mental health. I really wanted to go into clinical psychology initially, but that would take another five or six years of study, and I don’t have that time according to the oncologist.

“I really just wanted to come up with something that would still help people in the time I had … I was kind of a private person before, but I think it has helped people because it’s had such a huge outreach.”

Originally from Dunedin, McShain moved to Christchurch for her studies and plans to remain there while undergoing treatment.

She said she had always been passionate about music but lost time for it due to her academic and work commitments.

“I plan on doing like a few songs and having a few recorded for my family and friends so that they can have a part of me when I am no longer with them.”

Currently undergoing chemotherapy, McShain said she has been experiencing good and bad days due to the severity of the treatment, including experiencing an infection during her last round.

“You have a bad day and it’s like, ‘What’s the point of repeating this if it’s not going to get better,’ but the positive and the good days make it worth it.”

She was not eligible for surgery due to the size of the tumours, the largest being 9.5cm in diameter.

“The chemo I’m on has a 50 to 60 per cent chance of working, and if that doesn’t get rid of it then my time will be a lot shorter.”

McShain said she wanted to spread the message that cancer can strike at any age, urging people to be aware of the early signs, and she will continue to document her experience on TikTok.

“People don’t realise it’s such a blessing to grow old and have babies and do all these things. Now that I’ve had that opportunity taken away from me, I see things are a lot more of a blessing.

“Nothing is guaranteed in your future.”

A recent study published by University of Otago researchers showed that cases of colorectal cancer among those under 50 grew by 26 per cent on average per decade between 2000 and 2022.

A GoFundMe page has been created to help the McShain family cover Dominque’s medical expenses, donations can be made here.

Ben Tomsett is a Multimedia Journalist for the New Zealand Herald, based in Dunedin.