Young adults with cancer have unique needs; new Fox Chase program tries to meet them

For young adults dealing with a cancer assessment there is a unique set of challenges they may encounter And for Chris Cann creating a plan dedicated to addressing these issues was reliably top of mind They re going through a cancer identification at one of the preponderance pivotal points in their life from a maturation standpoint he explained So they could be in the midst of their guidance in college they could be just starting a career or starting a family They could be emerging their personal identity And so all of these combined lend this recipient population to need extra backing and specific promotion for them so that they can optimize their outcomes not only from their cancer medicine but from their mental physical condition physical medical and financial vitality Cann is a GI anatomical oncologist at Temple University s Fox Chase Center and he is now the director of the organization s Young Adult Cancer effort Although the scheme is the first of its kind in Philly he commented it has been needed for a while Young adult cancer is on the rise and it s really been happening over the past several decades he declared And when I say young adult I say it s really to but early onset is also included and that s up to the age of Cancer is the largest part common cause of disease-related death in this age group and it s often the least studied And these patients are presenting at later stages are often delayed in evaluation and often have more aggressive affection and inferior outcomes Dr Christopher Cann has been focused on creating a plan specific to the requirements of youth cancer patients for a few time Photo courtesy of Fox Chase Cancer Center Multifaceted operation The plan is vital because of rising necessities explained Anjali Albanese a social worker at the center and a member of the Young Adult Cancer Center s oncofertility committee which helps patients preserve their fertility while undergoing cancer medication Over the past several years the numbers of people being diagnosed with cancer that are falling in that young adult age range have exponentially increased she mentioned And so what we noticed is there are unique demands that are sort of specific to this age range and population According to research from cancer organizations including the American Association for Cancer Research cancer diagnoses for youth populations have been rising One scrutiny shows that between and rates for cancers had increased in at least one early-onset age group defined as between and years old Among the cancers with rising rates breast cancer kidney cancer colorectal cancer and testicular cancer The Young Adult Cancer Effort features a large number of specific tools for adults between the ages of and including teaching on fertility and sexual fitness concerns relationship dynamics and help navigating challenges like work and school scheduling When patients come in Cann declared they are evaluated to see what advocacy services would help them Patients from any malady that they have from a cancer standpoint come in and we give them a necessities assessment that asks what demands you have right now and making sure that we can help you with and help you handle through this really tough time in your life to try to make sure that you can focus on the recovery of your cancer as best you can so we can help take care of the rest he commented Albanese commented one of the major pieces of the scheme is that it gives young patients a space to empathize with one another which can be hard to find in their daily lives So what we were being recounted by younger patients is that it is really isolating and that they felt uncomfortable when they were coming in for healing and all they saw were people that were at least or years older than them she mentioned So part of why we felt like this would be a great and vital initiative to have is just to sort of help kind of close that gap a little bit to really think about what the demands are for these people that are between the ages of and Adults at this stage of life often face very different challenges than older adult patients When you get somebody who s diagnosed in their s and s they re sort of past specific of that Albanese explained They re established in their careers they ve already maybe met their considerable other and started a family if that s what they chose to do And now you have people who maybe aren t even in a relationship yet and they re being appealed do you want to participate in fertility preservation These encouragement services are open to anyone outside of the Fox Chase or Philadelphia public as well Albanese disclosed The effort is meant to reach as plenty of young adults as workable I literally just had somebody from Ohio log on to the last group she stated You don t have to be a individual at Fox Chase to be able to participate in the backing group aspect because there aren t that countless groups like this out there And the relief that you can see on people s faces when they re talking to someone who gets it in a way that maybe their friends don t their family doesn t the people they work with don t it s just such an amazing experience Eileen Seltzer is the chair of the venture s oncofertility committee She stated that countless cancer patients may not think of fertility issues when they are diagnosed but that they are significant especially as cancer treatments can affect one s ability to have a child in the future These young patients may not have started a family yet she stated They could still be in college They might be just finishing high school They may not have a life partner yet and not know what they want to do but that doesn t mean that they don t necessarily want to have a family in the future Seltzer announced multiple people are worried about their mortality when they are first diagnosed with cancer Because younger patients have a much higher survival rate than older ones it is fundamental they consider life after cancer and things like fertility When you get that cancer assessment the first thing that hits you is Am I going to die she explained So it s talking about survivability especially for young adults with a great number of of the cancers that they re diagnosed with over will be long-term survivors And then for that long-term survivorship what does that look like in the future The vulnerability to your fertility is very high depending on your cancer As part of the campaign patients are connected with fertility specialists and local fertility centers within a day or two of an initial meeting Our goal is to get them in there and let them have this option if they choose to move forward with fertility cure prior to their chemotherapy Seltzer declared One issue is costs as these options can be expensive A great number of sperm and egg banks have a monthly or yearly storage fee in addition to thousands of dollars in upfront costs Seltzer disclosed there has been selected help through the group but the center itself is looking into how it might fundraise and provide grants Cann also echoed the calls for better fertility preservation coverage He reported this can be a major barrier for young cancer patients The complication is that the majority of patients are paying out of pocket and so especially women are paying thousands of dollars to have fertility preservation he disclosed And then not only that but to maintain those eggs cryopreserved can be like a month to preserve this and so this could be financially limiting to a large number of people He announced he hopes to continue advocating to state and federal representatives for insurance coverage over these kinds of fertility preservation treatments for cancer patients so they can focus on rehabilitation and not have to worry about the financial burden of restoration costs Challenges big and small Seltzer explained there are also lots of small challenges youth cancer patients may need to address ranging from how to manage work to grocery delivery This Young Adult Cancer initiative is really built to meet those unique requirements based on where the patients are in life she reported Are they working Now they re going to be out of work and they may not have money built up to take that time off How do you get connected to the local endorsement that you need to help Maybe if you re not working you need help with getting groceries So how do we connect you to the local sources in Philadelphia and around the state that can help get you the things that you need Another essential goal of the plan is to address misconceptions she explained One of the first things you think of when you get a identification of cancer is I m going to be throwing up all the time and I m going to lose my hair she explained And that s not necessarily true depending on what type of infection you have so kind of dispelling the myths that they ve heard from the past letting them know that there are so multiple cure options out there and getting them connected to support especially for their age range Cann also announced it was critical for young adults to be aware and raise any concerns they might sense And so for patients if you feel like there s something wrong you know your body better than anybody else he mentioned Go seek diagnostic attention and go advocate for yourself To learn more or inquire about groups and treatments through the center you can email the group The post Young adults with cancer have unique necessities new Fox Chase venture tries to meet them appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY