New blood test developed by Silicon Valley-based Guardant Health screens for colon cancer [Video]

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) — More than 53,000 Americans are expected to die from colon cancer this year. Even more alarming is that the number of deaths has increased among people under the age of 50. This month is Colon Cancer Awareness Month and patients like Jamie Comer are urging people to get tested.

Comer has fought hard to stay alive after a stage four colon cancer diagnosis in 2016.

A routine medical checkup the year before showed no signs of cancer.

“In one year’s time, I had developed 60 tumors in my liver off of a single tumor in my colon,” she said.

MORE: Kate Middleton says she was diagnosed with cancer, is undergoing chemotherapy

Today, a simple blood test developed by Guardant Health in Silicon Valley could have given Comer a much better outcome.

“It measures the DNA that’s generated for cancer, and if they have the broken DNA then that raised the flag …