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Cancer rates up in young adults
At 37 years old the mountineer, a Mt. Everest veteran climber, was facing his biggest challenge yet. Just two months ago, the Lake Forest native was diagnosed with chronic myloid leukemia. The average age for a patient is 54 years old.
CHICAGO - There’s an alarming new study out about cancer worldwide. It found cases for people under the age of fifty are up eighty percent, compared to three decades ago.
In addition, the study, published in BMJ Oncology, found cancer deaths in adults forty and younger have grown by twenty-seven percent in the last thirty years.
The study was authored by the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China.
"I had a beautiful Thanksgiving, and at 8:00 the next day he called me. I think he was shocked, and I couldn't even believe what I heard," said Sallie LoBue of Cary, Illinois.
At 42 years old, the mom of three was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma, a form of breast cancer. She had no family history.
"I got the results back from the blood work and it basically said you need to see an oncologist specialist right away it looks like you may have leukemia," said Alex Pancoe.
At 37 years old, the mountaineer, a Mt. Everest veteran climber, was facing his biggest challenge yet.
Just two months ago, the Lake Forest native was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia. The average age for a patient is 54 years old.
"It’s one of those things that sneaks up on you. Looking back it's clear, I have not been one-hundred percent for a long time but when something comes on gradually you don't necessarily notice it," said Pancoe.
"Having any young patient diagnosed with cancer is alarming. You always are concerned about those patients and yes we are surprised that we are seeing some more advanced-stage cancers," said Dr. Cristina O’Donoghue, a Rush University Medical Center oncologist and surgeon.
She and her colleagues have discovered more cases of breast and skin cancer in young adult patients.
"One of my colleagues who treats colorectal cancer — he just last week had a 25-year-old with rectal cancer so we are noticing it."
Unfortunately, the cause of these cancers in younger adults is still a mystery.
"There's a contributing factor of diet and other environmental factors that we haven't necessarily pinpointed the cause," said Dr. O’Donoghue.
The study indicates poor diet, alcohol and tobacco use, physical inactivity and obesity are likely to be factors, but not for everyone.
For LoBue, the hardest part was convincing doctors that she needed a biopsy because she was technically too young to get cancer. Luckily a third doctor listened.
"You really need to trust your gut. You need to be an educated consumer of health care without a doubt, and if something doesn't make sense, question it and just keep going to someone who will listen to you," said LoBue.
Dr. O’Donoghue said younger cancer patients face two unique challenges. One is financing a cancer treatment. Cancer patients are four times more likely to file for bankruptcy.
The other is the impact of a future family. Cancer treatment can cause infertility.
Pancoe is working with his doctors to climb again.
He had hoped to be celebrating his latest birthday in the Alps. Instead, as his cancer treatment progresses, he’s planning a new challenge with his doctor. In December, he will stair climb at a local hospital to the top of an invisible mountain.
He wants to inspire other cancer survivors to follow their dreams.