To be alarmed at how many younger people are dying of cancer

[Onthelastsplash]

People who aren't anywhere near elderly. I'm 31 and was scrolling through Facebook earlier, thinking I could name almost 10 people whose parent had died from cancer in the past few years. In 99% of cases, the parents were under 65.
My aunt died from cancer when I was 15 and she was approx early 50s.
Deborah James' story is so heartbreaking.
Sarah Harding was such a tragic loss.

Does anybody else feel slightly scared of how common cancer deaths seem to be in younger/middle aged people? Has it increased in recent years? Survival rates are supposed to have increased a lot in the last few decades, for the most part.

This will so out me if you know me but hey

My DH now has a diagnosis (that took 3 months) that is so rare that only 1 (?) maybe a couple more people in the UK get every year

There is no UK specialist. Has anyone suggested going to the USA? No.
They have said maybe go and see this chap who knows a bit about it.

So let some guy play around with you before you probably die of it.

I'm not sure if it is getting more common. I think we just hear about it more on the news (as there is no longer a stigma around 'the big c') and via social media.

Is it plastics everywhere? Small particles of plastics in everything, shampoo, food, throws... chemical in sofa's, mattresses?

On food ....what we breath in...

I am genuinely really sorry for anyone who has been impacted by this.

But just to give a balanced view, a friend was diagnosed, treated, and hopefully cured of cancer during the pandemic. Most appointments were in person. So not every hospital stopped treatments and clinics.

A nurse I know says she and more senior colleagues suspect that some cancers now are a long term result of Chernobyl. I have no idea if that is correct or not.

I am genuinely really sorry for anyone who has been impacted by this.

But just to give a balanced view, a friend was diagnosed, treated, and hopefully cured of cancer during the pandemic. Most appointments were in person. So not every hospital stopped treatments and clinics.

A nurse I know says she and more senior colleagues suspect that some cancers now are a long term result of Chernobyl. I have no idea if that is correct or not.

Cancer death actress all ages are and will be higher due to missed diagnosis and treatment due to lockdowns.

Most cancers are lifestyle related.
As a population we don't smoke as much anymore (so less lung cancers) but almost everything else will keep increasing as most people are overweight/ obese, eat too much processed food, not enough fibre etc. We drink too much, use sunbeds, don't use enough SPF, etc.

Change these habits and cancer rates will plummet.

Hmm

My Dh ran the NYC marathon days before his diagnosis
Doesn't smoke and Never has
Drinks in massive moderation
Bit of a health freak re diet
on the lower side of BMI

but you are saying it is his fault he he got cancer ?

Basically piss off!

There will be statistics to show if cancer rates are increasing. Can you search them out and link them op? I think your post is based on nothing.

I can think of 5 people I knew who died of cancer under 50 (4 of those had breast cancer ) but I don't imagine that's unusual.

Some of this will be social media. Young people died of cancer years ago but they didn’t have Instagram/ TokTok/ YouTube etc accounts to document their illnesses or JustGiving/ charity accounts trying to raise money and so it wouldn’t have been as known about outside of their social circle/ local area.

Facebook/ social media also means our social circles are bigger, social media makes it easy to stay abreast of people’s lives when in the past you would have lost touch with them. If you didn’t have Facebook would you even know half of those friends had lost parents to cancer? It’s easier to share things nowadays whereas in the past they may have been kept private or only shared with close friends.

They did say that due to covid a lot of people got misdiagnosed, treatments were stopped or delayed and unfortunately, we’re more likely to see an increase in cancer related deaths in the next few years.

IMO, the “protect the NHS” campaign backfired, as a few people I know didn’t want to be a “burden” or couldn’t get an appointment for months regarding a potentially cancerous symptoms…

I've wondered this as well. We are surrounded by so many synthetic substances now, some of which have known negative effects on our health and others there haven't been any long term studies on. Paints, synthetic fabrics, food packaged in plastic, intensive farming, hormones in meat and dairy, processed foods. I wonder how much of that contributes to cancer. And I'm a cancer survivor myself so not victim blaming here. I am slim, exercise, eat healthily, don't drink much, never smoked and still got cancer 🤷‍♀️

My DC is 10. 2 children in his class have lost their mums to cancer.

I know 5 mums all under 45, the youngest just 31 that have died from cancer leaving behind young children. And several more parents in the same age bracket who are still battling. I am not the kind of person who has a massive social circle so it's not that I know lots of people. I would have known all of these people with or without social media.

I don't think I knew anyone growing up who's patent died when they were still a child so to me it's much more common now but my lone experience obviously that doesn't translate automatically to more people are dying younger across the nation.

My husband died aged 50 last year from a cancer that should have been picked up and instead was fobbed off repeatedly by the nhs.

quite a few middle aged people I know have cancer, have had cancer or have died. The nhs is in a shocking state and also I think that generally middle aged people have born the brunt of poor diets, smoking, second hand smoking, drinking,and lack of health and safety around chemicals etc. things weren’t quite as health and safety conscious back in the 70s and 80s etc.

We're better at diagnosing cancer now too.
Years ago people would have died with unknown cancer rather then of cancer.

I'm our case we can't fault the NHS though. DH was diagnosed 2 months ago and had his op last weekend. The whole process has been surprisingly slick and quick.

1 in 2 people get it thats why you see it so often in all ages.

Oh just to add my dh didn’t smoke and was pretty fit in the last 3 years of his life. However he was very overweight once, he had a pretty shit diet ( loads of processed meat etc, drank loads in his youth) but what I think caused his cancer was his life long exposure to factory chemicals, one particular factory we both worked at has a terrible record for chemical safety, still does. It’s very hard to prove though

I am very sorry to hear that

That doesnt sound quick?

It gets more common as you get older. We had 2 close friends die in their 40s from bowel cancer, my brother died at 65 from asbestosis. We have also had 2 friends lose childen to cancer, one at age 10 and one in their late teens Now we are nearly 70, we always have a couple of sympathy cards for when they are next needed. I don't know if it is more prevalent today than 10 or 20 years ago, but it is a fact of life that we all must die, some get a bit more time than others.

I was diagnosed with cancer in my late teens, a cancer that wasn’t common for someone my age, though is becoming increasingly common now. I had no genetic reason for it and my symptoms were dismissed for at least a year before a doctor took me seriously finally.

It was quite advanced by the time I was diagnosed so I was very lucky. So I suspect that’s a big part of it - younger people being ignored when they have very classic symptoms.

There's a lot in this. 100 years ago our female friends would have been decimated by childbirth, certainly my great gran either died in childbirth or due to a child-bearing issue (it was never talked about). That said, I'm sorry about your mum.

We are quick to blame the nhs, but so many of us don't look after ourselves. We ear too much, drink too much. Don't exercises enough, smoke, some use drugs that are illegal because they are injurious to our health., and then moan because the NHS can't mend us instantly. Yes the NHS could be better, but they have just been through an horrendous 2 years. With billions extra being pumped in to protect us and treat us from covid. And it will take time to clear the backlog. My family have has some issues, broken bones. Skin cancer treatment and my son is currently being treated for a severe mental health problem, and I can honestly say that the treatment that we have all received has been excellent. We may have had to wait longer than we would have liked in some instances, but considering what the country has been through, we don't have a lot to complain about. My husband has a benign tumour removed from his nose, and he has to go back for more treatment as they didn't get it all out. It is painful and uncomfortable, but at least he won't face an eye watering bill at the end of it. Yes, it isn't perfect, but I have found it to be much better than the press would have us believe.

I'm living with stage 4 breast cancer, I was diagnosed at 33 (I'm 36 now). I'm part of an online support network for "younger" women (under 45s) with stage 4 breast cancer in the UK, there are hundreds of us (of course a tiny percentage of the population!).
Across all age ranges there are around 30,000 women living with stage 4 breast cancer in the UK.
We desperately need better access to treatment lines and clinical trials, plus more funding for research, I'm confident that a stage 4 cancer diagnosis will one day no longer be a death sentence ... we make leaps and bounds in the right direction, but it's funding and research that will get us over the finish line.