*Trigger* To think so many young people have cancer?

[Pineappleearrings]

I’ve become a little addicted to TikTok lately and it seems every other video is a young person (talking 18-40) videoing themselves as they go through their cancer journey.
A majority seem to have stage 4 disease too. Some have only months to live.
The most shocking part is those saying they had zero symptoms prior to diagnosis.

Theres bowel, Colon, breast, ovarian, bone and leukaemia. All come up in the last few days and all very young people.

Its scaring me , I’m 33 and I keep thinking will it be me next? Sorry if I’ve offended anybody, I always knew young people, even children got cancer, extremely sad. However, it seems there’s one, after another, after another and every other video…

You do know an algorithm will be sending the same types of videos your way…

That's the nature of the algorithm - you watch one video so it "thinks" you like them and shows you more and more and it becomes a cycle of watching and recommendations. It seems more common than it is on a population level. But I know how you feel - I had a legitimate cancer scare aged 20 and assumed my time was up.

It sounds like you've got health anxiety. You should probably switch tiktok off.

I haven't seen any on tiktok because I mostly like cooking and craft videos. If you interact with them then you'll get more the same.

Once you watch one of these you’ll be sent more and more and more. Algorithms…

I’m 37, I have stage 2B breast cancer, I’m by far the youngest person in the chemo suite/sitting in the waiting room in oncology at my hospital. I can’t comprehend filming it all for social media but each to their own.

Please don’t go any further down this rabbit hole - of course you should check your breasts, be aware of your poo, go to the doctors if you have random bleeding/pain etc….but you need to live your life ❤️

Young adult cancer patients- up to and including 24 - are treated in a separate unit usually, hence the average adult patient not seeing them. It’s not as rare as people seem to think. But if you have t got symptoms you need to get on with life

I had breast cancer 2 years ago and had my treatment in a very large hospital that has a regional centre of excellence for cancer patients. Because of this people come from over 2 hours away and the centre covers a wide geographical area.

There were young people there. There were children. There were people in 20s, 30s, 40s 50s 60s 70s. There were people who looked very ill indeed, and people who still looked healthy. It was very much a cross section of society.

There were more people 60+ than any other age group, but every medical professional would tell you that all cancers increase with age.

As pp said you are seeing these videos due to algorithims. The more you watch, the more you will be served. Add that to the fact that more young people will record their journey than older folk. It is not a accurate representation of age groups affected by cancer.

Put kindly, you really need to stop watching these videos and maybe seek help for your health anxiety.

Yes totally the algorithm! Mine is all about Harry styles, some student murders in Idaho and “what I eat in a day”! No idea why! My husbands is very different. Tell it you don’t like the videos and it will switch to something else!

Just get off TikTok.

Yes it’s not as rare as you think. My ds was diagnosed with Acute myeloid leukaemia at 16 months old. The children’s oncology ward was always full over his 6 month stay. We met lots of families, most of them living geographically very close to us.