A new report this week found that the United States is turning the tide on several major cancer types.
But while cancer rates among older people are declining, a more worrying trend has emerged: cancers are increasing among children and young adults, including blood cancers.
And because children are so young and historically at such low risk, they are often not diagnosed until it is too late.
Alizabeth Rhodes of Michigan is among a growing number of American children affected by the disease that typically affects the elderly.
The 16-year-old’s family realized something was wrong when she began to feel exhausted and lacked energy much more than usual.
She was taken to the emergency room in her home state with “nonspecific” symptoms at age 16, which may have included swollen areas in her neck and armpit and fever or night sweats.
Alizabeth Rhodes, now 17, is pictured above. She was diagnosed with stage four peripheral T-cell lymphoma, which is typically found in adults over 60.
Tests revealed he had stage four peripheral T-cell lymphoma, or an aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in which T cells, a type of blood cell, begin to divide uncontrollably.
By the time she was diagnosed, the cancer cells had already spread to multiple organs.
She was pulled out of school in July 2023 after her cancer was detected, and spent nine months in and out of the hospital receiving chemotherapy, radiation and then a bone marrow transplant.
Mrs Rhodes She is now in remission and doctors describe her as “extremely resilient”, while her family said she was a “true fighter”.
But questions remain about why the young man, now 17 and yet to return to school, developed cancer.
Each year, fewer than one in 100,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease, and the vast majority of them are 60 years of age or older.
It is extremely rare for cancer to be detected in children.
Dr. Joshua Goldman, a Michigan Medicine oncologist who helped treat her, said, “There may be a few cases like hers and there is no standard treatment for this specific disease for someone her age.”
Ms Rhodes spent nine months in and out of hospital receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy to treat her cancer. She is pictured above during treatment.
At the same time, data shows that blood cancers diagnosed among children are increasing, with a 2016 Study Diagnoses of leukemia in children have increased by about 0.7 percent each year since 1975. Leukemia affects the bone marrow, which makes white blood cells.
TO Independent study from 2008 The incidence of all peripheral non-Hodgkin lymphomas (Mrs. Rhodes’s cancer) was found to have increased 280 percent between 1992 and 2005 across all age groups.
And the Cancer progress report A report released this week by the American Association for Cancer Research, which works to prevent and cure cancer, also noted “growing concern” about the rising incidence of certain types of cancer in children.
It falls within a broader trend of increasing cancers among children and young adults, including the emerging colon cancer epidemic and the rise in non-melanoma skin cancer.
Previously, doctors linked childhood cancers to a combination of genetics and bad luck.
But in the 2016 paper on the rise in leukemia cases, the scientists wrote that “the steady rise in incidence is a strong indicator that the origins of childhood leukemia are influenced by more than just genetics.”
Other scientists have suggested the increase may be due to a possible link between childhood leukemia and pesticide exposure, either during pregnancy or early childhood, according to the American Cancer Society.
Studies have also pointed to a potential link between cancer and exposure to chemicals such as benzene, which can be present in beauty products and hand sanitizers.
Revealing her case, Ms Rhodes said: “I wanted to share what I was going through to help people understand. It’s a lot harder than you think.
“Sometimes I felt like giving up, but I realized I couldn’t. I want to tell other people to never give up.”
She added: “It was a long journey and I know I’m not done yet, but I feel good and happy to be home.”
“I finally got here, but I didn’t do it alone.”
Dr Mark Lugt, an oncologist who was also part of his team, said: “This treatment is very disruptive to the lives of teenagers.
‘We took them out of school for over a year, restricted many activities and asked them to give up many things.
“Lizzy always handled everything exceptionally well. It was nice to see how much support she received from her family and friends and how she maintained these connections in the hospital through social media and other means.”
The graph above shows the change in early-onset cancer rates worldwide, divided by women (pink) and men (blue).
Ms. Rhodes was required to attend online school classes during her battle with cancer.
This was because the chemotherapy and radiotherapy he was receiving had severely weakened his immune system, meaning that normal germs that most children can fight off could cause a serious infection.
He is now on the road to recovery, but has been told to be careful about returning to school or hanging out with friends because his immune system may have a hard time fighting off any illness he contracts.
The United States is not the only country where there has been an increase in childhood cancer: spikes have also been detected in the United Kingdom (where cases have increased by 15 percent since the 1990s) and other Western countries.
While some experts have blamed environmental exposure, others have pointed to other factors, such as the fact that fewer children die early and young people are not exposed to diseases until later in life than before modern society.
Dr Alastair Sutcliffe, a paediatrician at University College London, previously said: ‘Of course, cancer is a terrible experience for any child and their family.
‘But one of the reasons for this is that, unfortunately, there are many other diseases today that no longer kill as many children, such as premature births and infectious diseases.
‘And while the number of cancer cases may be increasing, overall childhood mortality is decreasing, and childhood cancer is one area where tremendous gains have been made.’
Rhodes has now been declared in remission, but is still being asked not to return to school. Doctors fear he could contract an infection that could become serious.
To treat Ms. Rhodes’ cancer, doctors used chemotherapy and radiation to kill the cancer cells.
A bone transplant from a matched donor was also performed to add new immune cells to the body that doctors said could help hunt down and kill any surviving cancer cells.
Peripheral non-Hodgkin lymphoma has an overall survival rate of at least 82 percent if it is detected in the early stages, before it has spread to other areas of the body.
But if it is not detected until it has spread to other organs, as in Ms Rhodes’s case, the overall survival rate drops to just 33 per cent.
Dr Lugt said: ‘Our results for this diagnosis are not usually favourable.
‘These types of cancer are very rare in pediatrics and because they are so rare, they are not always studied.
‘That means there are a lot of questions about what to do with children with rare malignancies that don’t behave the same way as adults.
“Determining the most appropriate treatment for patients like Alizabeth can be challenging because we don’t have as much information.”
