Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Awareness Week
April 1-5, 2024

The first week of April is Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Awareness Week. This annual awareness week is an opportunity to shine a light on the unique challenges that teen and young adult cancer patients and survivors face.

According to the National Cancer Institute, about 89,000 young people (ages 15 to 39) are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States—accounting for about five percent of cancer diagnoses in the United States.

Certain cancers, such as primary bone cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma and testicular cancer, are most frequently diagnosed among adolescents and young adults. However, the incidence of specific cancer types varies according to age. Lymphomas and thyroid cancer are the most common cancers among 15- to 24-year-olds.

Adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood cancer often express frustration that their peers and the public don’t understand the challenges that too often persist in the life of a cancer survivor.

“I don’t look sick, so I’m not sick? Not true. Every decision I make or thing I want to do is rooted in my past treatment. Getting sick again is always in my head.” - Leukemia survivor, diagnosed at 13

“Cancer’s destruction never stops when survivors hear ‘cancer-free.’” - Brain tumor survivor, diagnosed at 14

Young adult survivors often tell us about their free time being consumed with exhausting medical appointments and exhaustive efforts to secure disability benefits or accommodations. They worry about the financial burdens of long-term care. They’re frustrated about being unable to indulge like their peers, always worried about the risks in having alcohol or the chronic fatigue that makes it too hard to keep up socially. They are constantly fearing relapse. They’re keeping track of multiple medications to manage chronic conditions. They have scars, anxiety, depression. infertility. loneliness… and these are all young adults who, in most cases, completed treatment and were declared ‘cured’ many years - or even decades! - ago.

“It never ends. You never go back to the life you once had.” - Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor, diagnosed at 15

In adolescents, the incidence rate continues to rise about one percent every year. The 2022 Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer reports that while survival rates continue to improve, progress among adolescents has lagged behind that in children “partly because of differences in tumor biology, clinical trial enrollment, treatment protocols, and tolerance and compliance with treatment.”

We will be sharing AYA awareness posts on social media all week long. Be sure to follow us on our social channels - linked below - and share with your own network to help increase awareness for this often-overlooked group of young people. If you’re an AYA patient or survivor and we can include your voice, reach out to us below!