Adolescent and Young Adult Survivors
Adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivors, often defined as being between the ages of 15-39, have seen advancements in technology and modern medicine causing a dramatic increase in the number of AYA survivors. Prior to 1970, being diagnosed with cancer during childhood was considered a universally fatal disease. From 1995 to 2000, however, the 5-year survival rate for children diagnosed with cancer was 80%. Significant progress has been built in the last 25 years as there are now approximately 270,000 survivors of pediatric cancer in the U.S., which translates to approximately 1 in every 640 young young adults being a survivor of childhood cancer. However, as studies have shown, as patient needs increase, the likelihood of having an unmet need also increases. For the AYA population, 2 out of 3 childhood cancer survivors will develop 1 complication due to the therapy they received and 1 out of 3 will develop serious or life-threatening complications, meaning they will most likely need treatment and follow-up care.
An AYA survivor, faces a variety of issues that are unique to their particular age group which differentiate their survivor population from the adult survivor population. Factors that impact educational attainment, employment, marriage and intimacy, fertility, and other life values differ in the emerging young adult compared with the older adult. Data show that AYA survivors have a much greater risk of getting a second primary malignancy as a side effect of the treatment for their original diagnosis. It is believed that AYAs have a much higher relative risk of developing a second primary cancer because the intensity of the treatment for their original diagnosis, typically including any combination of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, is much higher than the level of intensity given to patients over 40. Furthermore, since AYA survivors are diagnosed and treated at such a young age, their length of time being a survivor is much longer than their adult counterparts, making it more likely they will face a second primary cancer in their lifetime.
Read more about this topic: Cancer Survivors
Famous quotes containing the words adolescent, young, adult and/or survivors:
“Every adolescent has that dream every century has that dream every revolutionary has that dream, to destroy the family.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“In America they carry latch-keys, and walk about with young gentlemen as young gentlemen walk about with each other.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“Children who are pushed into adult experience do not become precociously mature. On the contrary, they cling to childhood longer, perhaps all their lives.”
—Peter Neubauer (20th century)
“I believe that all the survivors are mad. One time or another their madness will explode. You cannot absorb that much madness and not be influenced by it. That is why the children of survivors are so tragic. I see them in school. They don’t know how to handle their parents. They see that their parents are traumatized: they scream and don’t react normally.”
—Elie Wiesel (b. 1928)