Opinion | Why Are Younger Adults Getting Cancer? Kennedy Should Help Answer That. - The New York Times

Dr. Lamas, a contributing Opinion writer, is a pulmonary and critical care physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. When I started working in the intensive care unit of a cancer hospital, I didn’t know what to make of the horror stories of patients in their 30s and 40s. There was a young father with colon cancer. A recent college graduate with an aggressive malignancy that had destroyed her jaw and airway. An aspiring journalist with breast cancer that had spread to her lungs. Late at night, I’d suddenly feel suspicious of every random stomach pain or twinge in my shoulder. I told myself that those patients were not the norm. I was in my 30s, and the overwhelming likelihood was that I was safe. That is still true, although perhaps youth is less protective than I thought. The rates of what is termed early-onset cancer — cancer diagnosed in those under 50 — are rising. While the overall numbers remain relatively small, these cancers tend to be aggressive. The average person r

Dr. Lamas, a contributing Opinion writer, is a pulmonary and critical care physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. When I started working in the intensive care unit of a cancer hospital, I didn’t know what to make of the horror stories of patients in their 30s and 40s. There was a young father with colon cancer. A recent college graduate with an aggressive malignancy that had destroyed her jaw and airway. An aspiring journalist with breast cancer that had spread to her lungs. Late at night, I’d suddenly feel suspicious of every random stomach pain or twinge in my shoulder. I told