While cancer has long been considered a disease of old age, a rise in cases among Generation Z and millennials is gradually changing that trend.
Since 1990, cases of some cancers in young people have nearly doubled in the United States, even as rates have slowed or decreased in their parents and grandparents.
Sydney Towle, from California, was just 23 years old when she was diagnosed with bile duct cancer in early August 2023, after doctors discovered a “sizable mass” in her stomach that had been growing for four months.
“I’m normally an active person, but I suddenly started feeling short of breath and a strange burning sensation came over my stomach,” she shared.
The young and “active” Californian admitted that she had initially overlooked her symptoms and is now urging others via social media not to skip their regular medical check-ups.
Bile duct cancer, also known as cholangiocarcinoma, is an aggressive type of cancer that begins in the bile ducts.
It can affect people of different ages, but is most commonly diagnosed in adults over 50 years of age.
Sydney Towle, from California, was just 23 years old when she was diagnosed with bile duct cancer in early August 2023.
Cases of some cancers in young people have nearly doubled in the U.S., even as rates have slowed or decreased in their parents and grandparents.
Mrs Towle, whose tumor arose from a genetic mutation, admitted the most challenging aspect of her journey has been dealing with the unknown.
“It’s hard for me to plan for the future or hope for anything when everything is so fragile around my diagnosis and treatment,” she said.
‘It’s also very difficult to plan short-term, such as dinners or outings with friends, when I don’t know how I will feel physically or emotionally on a given day.
‘There are so many things I want to do now, since I don’t know how much time I have left, but I can’t plan my bucket list or any fun trips while I’m having treatment and I don’t know where the surgery will take me. ‘
Ms. Towle, who recently fulfilled one of her dreams by moving to New York, is currently undergoing aggressive treatment targeting the tumor with a variety of treatments, including chemotherapy and experimental drugs.
Because doctors are not used to seeing cancers in young, healthy people, their symptoms are often dismissed as more benign conditions.
Ms. Towle, TikTok star Rachel Yaffe was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer at the age of 20.
Yaffe, who was from Maryland and documented her cancer journey online, said she felt like something was wrong as a teenager, but that it was due to a gluten intolerance.
But after visiting a doctor who saw her level of concern, she was referred to a specialist on the off chance that it could be cancer.
They discovered a 20 cm tumor in his liver. He died on October 11 of this year after a seven-year battle against the disease.
Rachel Yaffe of Maryland passed away on October 11 at the age of 27, after a seven-year battle with liver cancer.
After experiencing swelling in her abdomen, Ms Yaffe was diagnosed with stage 4 fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma and was rushed into surgery a few days later to have the tumor removed.
The disease had spread too far through his body to be treated.
Hard data released earlier this year revealed that new generations have a higher risk of more than a dozen cancers than those who came before them.
An analysis of tens of millions of diagnoses found that millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and Generation X (1965-80) were more likely to develop 17 forms of cancer than the post-World War II Boomer generation.
Obesity, sedentary lifestyles and ultra-processed foods have been blamed for the rise in cancers in young people, but doctors say that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Several doctors have told DailyMail.com that they are also seeing an increase in the number of patients in their 20s and 30s who eat healthy and stay fit and develop the condition.
Michelle Hughes was told she had incurable cancer and had three years to live at 34, but she proved the doctors wrong and says she is “alive and thriving” at 37.
The mother of three from Prince Edward Island, Canada, received her ‘death sentence’ aAfter collapsing at home after the birth of her third child.
Doctors discovered “countless” lung tumors and 15 liver cysts in his body, which they said could not be operated on.
At first, Mrs. Hughes said she was in “a really negative space because I lost the life I envisioned for myself and my family.”
But that was three years ago. Incredibly, Mrs Hughes has since embarked on a wellness campaign with the aim of becoming a triathlete.
On October 11, Ms Yaffe’s obituary was published online with details of her funeral. Above, pictured with a friend in September.
The graph above shows the increase in colorectal cancer in Americans under age 50 over the past two decades.
Having never been a runner before, Ms Hughes took part in 12 running events in 2023, including a half marathon.
And this August he completed half a triathlon, covering the route from the hospital where he was diagnosed to his summer home.
This epic feat has been turned into a short documentary that will air in November.
Mrs Hughes considers exercise to be one of her saviors when living with cancer, along with her husband Ty.
in a post on Instagram – where her inspiring attitude has seen her amass more than 300,000 followers – the brunette reveals that she was diagnosed with cancer on August 20, 2021.
Recalling the chain of events, she wrote: “I was holding my three-week-old son in my arms, sitting next to my husband, when my first oncologist told me I had five years to live, probably three. My daughters were five at the time. and two years.
While she was completely devoid of hope at the time, Mrs Hughes says cancer has driven her to “just live”, and her Instagram account, @myjourneytojustlive, reflects this.
He adds: “What I didn’t realize then, and what I have come to know and understand, is that my life was just beginning.
“I was just given the gift of knowing that my life may be shorter than most, and I knew that if I wanted to live, I needed to set myself up for success, stop sitting and waiting to die.”
Mrs Hughes was diagnosed with a rare sarcoma called epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) which originates in the cells lining blood vessels.
Michelle Hughes received her ‘death sentence’ from cancer after collapsing at home following the birth of her third child.
EHE, which has an incidence rate of less than one million people in the US, is most commonly associated with young and middle-aged adults, and is more common in women.
One of the signs of EHE is a dry cough that causes difficulty breathing.
Other symptoms include a lump or swelling in the soft tissue of the body under the skin and stomach pain along with weight loss if the disease is present in the liver.
Mrs Hughes said she started noticing something was wrong when she was pregnant with her first daughter, Juliet, back in 2016.
she said Today.com He developed sharp pain in the upper right part of his abdomen and an ultrasound revealed a hemangioma (a benign tumor) in his liver.
In a post on Instagram, where her inspiring attitude has allowed her to accumulate more than 300,000 followers, the brunette reveals that she was diagnosed with cancer on August 20, 2021.
The Hugheses are now based in Prince Edward Island, where they help organize regular events to raise cancer awareness.
While the doctors didn’t say it wouldn’t trigger that kind of pain, they said everything seemed to be in order and they did a follow-up scan a year later and again after she had another daughter, Adeline, through IVF.
Scans showed the mass had not grown, but Mrs Hughes said the pain “got significantly worse”.
Despite further investigation, doctors still couldn’t get to the root of the problem.
Only after the premature birth of her son, Hatton, due to a ruptured placenta, did Mrs Hughes’ condition worsen.
At the time, Mrs. Hughes was living in Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories, but while on vacation visiting her family on Prince Edward Island, she collapsed.
That’s when the cancer was detected and he never returned to Yellowknife.
In an Instagram post, she reveals how her life took a turn: ‘WWe had plans to return home at the end of the summer, after Hatton arrived.
But… we never made it back home. Literally. We stayed in PEI and Ty flew back alone, packing up our house along with friends and community members.
‘Our house was sold and a new family moved in to make their own memories.
‘The children and I said goodbye to their rooms, beds and toys via FaceTime. It may be one of the worst pains I have ever experienced.’
The Hugheses are now based in Prince Edward Island, where they help organize regular events to raise cancer awareness.