Changing the Way We Treat and Care for Young Adults With Cancer
Welcome to Critical Mass: The Young Adult Cancer Alliance, where unifying voices and eliminating barriers is our mission and our passion. We are non-profits, medical institutions, patient advocacy groups, government agencies, clinicians, researchers and dedicated individuals – all united by a shared passion to improve the lives of young adults with cancer. By joining together, we believe that we have the power to create a world where young adults with cancer have no barriers to survive and thrive.
“#YAcancerisdifferent because young adults often lose their fertility due to chemo, often without even knowing it was a risk.”
- @heycriticalmass
Our Cancer is Different
Each year, nearly 70,000 young adults between the ages of 15 and 39 are diagnosed with cancer in the United States. In contrast to those younger and older, survival rates for young adults have not increased since 1975, possibly due to factors such as lack of insurance, less participation in clinical trials and delayed diagnoses.
Young survivors often are caught between the worlds of pediatric and adult oncology. They may face a variety of unique long-term effects that will need to be addressed over their lifetimes, such as: reentry into school or the workforce, insurance coverage issues, infertility as a result of treatment, neurocognitive effects or secondary malignancies. Learn More
Our Community is One-of-a-Kind
We are interdisciplinary and collaborative—medical professionals come to the table on equal footing with patient advocates, because we all have a stake in this issue. Together, we strive to be the unifying voice of the young adult cancer community as we work side-by-side to raise awareness, build the evidence base, and change the way we treat and care for young adults with cancer. Learn More
“#YAcancerisdifferent because survival rates for young adults with cancer have barely improved since the 1970s.”
