Cancer knows no age: Cancer treatment in young adults
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Three words no one ever wants to hear: you have cancer.
“An overwhelming feeling of my entire life is about to change,” Adolescent Young Adult Cancer Survivor Jacklyn Ornelas said. “And just so much uncertainty.”
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A deadly disease that affects millions of people across the U.S. every year, but there is a group of patients that are frequently forgotten. Diagnosed with a rare brain cancer at 19 years old, I am no stranger to how cancer treatment and survivorship look different in young adults. After spending 15 months in treatment, I also am familiar with the dire need for resources for young adults.
Young adulthood is often coined as the time in your life to find yourself and figure out who you want to be. That all comes to a screeching halt when you’re told those three words.
“Just really in life there’s a lot of transition at that time,” MD Anderson AYA Program Manager Wendy Griffith said. “And it’s everything from their basic needs of housing, transportation, finances, health insurance, work, school, family, friends, sexual health, body image. All of those things are really coming into play at the same time in life already. Then, you throw a cancer diagnosis on top of it, and it really makes everything more complicated.”
Early onset cancer, or cancer in people younger than 50, has increased by 79% in the last 30 years according to BMJ Oncology. Pediatric patients often find themselves surrounded by other kids in the hospital, and adult patients see people their age in the waiting rooms. For young adults, that social network is nearly nonexistent.
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“They’re often the youngest person in the waiting room or the oldest person in the waiting room, so they’re not seeing people their age,” Griffith said. “A lot of them don’t know anyone else their age that’s had cancer. So, it’s an enormously isolating experience.”
With growing numbers of young adult cases, resources have started to follow suit. One of which being “The Cancer Patient” page on Instagram, racking in over 100 thousand followers. Self-proclaimed as “a satirical look at life as a cancer patient”, the creator tells me the page works to combat the feelings of isolation many young adults feel by giving them the support they may not have otherwise.
The creator emphasizes finding comfort in community, conversation and humor with those you can relate to.
“What The Cancer Patient brings out is the raw conversations, the brutal honesty,” “The Cancer Patient” page creator and AYA Cancer Survivor Carlo said. “You’ll be able to joke about your own experiences. I would like to think that heals your soul a little bit.”
Cancer institutes have continued to step up, even in our own backyard. The Clearview Cancer Institute offers the CAYAC program for any young adult survivors or current patients to lean on one another and gain peer support.
“Just to be an open source to talk to, gain advice, and just build camaraderie with people who have gone through the same things you have,” Oncologist and Hematologist with Clearview Cancer Institute Dr. Wes Smith said.
To find cancer resources for any age close to home, visit cancer.org here.
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