Kelis's Husband's Fight with Stage 4 Stomach Cancer at Age 37

Mike Mora, singer Kelis’ husband, went public about his fight with stomach (gastric) cancer before passing away in 2022. As shared on his Instagram, the 37-year-old photographer was diagnosed with stage 4 gastric cancer earlier in 2021.

The photographer and his family had relocated to a farm outside Los Angeles back in 2020. He then experienced what he described as "the worst pain" in his stomach. He attributed it to the "new labor intensive farm work” he did under the blistering heat that he was not used to.

In just seven months from the initial diagnosis, Mora’s conditions deteriorated rapidly. And finally, on 14 March 2022, Kelis’ management team confirmed the sad news of his passing.

It took four specialists and an endoscopic biopsy to confirm Mora’s diagnosis, and by that time, the cancer was already at an advanced stage. As shared on his Instagram, it was “gastric adenocarcinoma with diffuse type/signet ring cell features (poorly cohesive carcinoma)”.

Adenocarcinoma is a type of cancer affecting the glands. “Adeno” stems from the Greek word for gland, adḗn, and adenocarcinoma occurs in mucus-producing organs like lungs, breasts, colon, esophagus, pancreas or prostate. Almost 90% of gastric cancers occur in the form of adenocarcinoma.

Early gastric cancer symptoms are so mild and vague that they can easily go unnoticed. Early-stage patients may present GERD-like (gastroesophageal reflux disease) or gastric ulcer-like symptoms, such as indigestion, heartburn, nausea and vomiting but they tend to be dismissed as abdominal discomfort. In Mora’s case, he initially dismissed his first symptoms as well.

On his Instagram, he shared: “I thought the whole time that I just had an ulcer. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me.” Beyond his stomach pain, he also felt a “loss of appetite” and “pain in [his] back”.

As the disease progresses slowly (for years even), these symptoms prolong or even worsen; and very often are accompanied by new symptoms like severe pain and unintended weight loss.

How cancer develops has always been a complex question. Scientists have found multiple risk factors for gastric cancer. Some of these can be managed, others cannot. These factors can be categorized into environmental, infectious, immunologic and genetic factors.

• Gender
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Geography
• Helicobacter pylori infection
• Obesity
• Diet
• Alcohol use
• Smoking
• Stomach polyps
• Autoimmune conditions
• Having a first-degree relative with hereditary diffuse gastric cancer
• A family history of other cancers (e.g. familial intestinal gastric cancer, hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, Lynch syndrome, Li-Fraumeni syndrome)

While Mike Mora’s young age and sudden diagnosis may shock some, the rising trend in gastric cancers seen in younger people has already been noticed. In the US alone, the incidence of gastric cancer in younger people has been gradually increasing, making up over 30% of all gastric cancer cases in the country in 2019.

Owing to the lack of symptoms during the early stages, gastric cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage (when cancer has spread or metastasized) with a poor prognosis. Currently, with advances in chemotherapy, the life expectancy of metastatic gastric cancer can be prolonged up to approximately 18 months.

Early-stage gastric cancer, however, confers a good prognosis with reported 5-year survival rates ranging from 69% to over 90%, depending on each case, and the type of treatment used. Speak to a doctor if you have increased risk of gastric cancer. People with a strong family history of other cancers may also consider tests or screening for gastric cancer. With your proactiveness, early detection can be the key to survival.