In 2022, Julia DeVillers, then in her 50s, was sitting at the pool when she stood up and looked at her towel.

“I bled on it, and I thought, ‘Wow, this brings me back to my pre-teen years of being traumatized when you get your fist period,’” the young adult novelist from Columbus tells TODAY.com. “I thought, ‘This is a very dramatic period.’”

Undergoing treatment for anal cancer caused intense complications for Julia DeVillers. Having the support of her family helped her grapple with her diagnosis and treatment. Courtesy Julia DeVillers

For several months, DeVillers experienced “blood gushing,” which she believed was erratic periods as part of perimenopause. She then realized that the blood came from her anus and thought it was a hemorrhoid. When she went in for a doctor to address it,

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