AYAO Article Archive
04.11.2025The first week of April is Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Awareness Week—and if you've never heard of it, that's part of the problem. This year, 89,500 young people between the ages of 15 and 39 will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States.
03.31.2025On Sunday, June 1, Lurie Cancer Center and Northwestern Medicine will welcome cancer survivors and supporters to our 32nd Annual Cancer Survivors’ Celebration Walk & 5K!
02.26.2025Tara O. Henderson, MD, MPH, has been named the Founders’ Board Centennial Chair of Pediatrics, effective March 31.
02.25.2025The number of young people being diagnosed with cancer is on the rise. And while the treatments can be life-saving, years later they are life-altering.
01.24.2025In this episode of the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium’s podcast series, Lurie Cancer Center’s Kristin Smith discusses how she helps young adults with cancer navigate fertility preservation at Northwestern Medicine.
09.24.2024Cancer patients in the adolescent and young adult (AYA) age group – generally defined as people between the ages of 15 and 39 – face a variety of unique challenges, from navigating a healthcare system that is not designed for them to financial toxicity and the reality of living with disease in the “prime” of their life.
09.18.2024In October 2024, Sofia Garcia, PhD, director of the Cancer Survivorship Institute of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, joined directors of other leading U.S. cancer survivorship programs in a webinar and panel discussion on advancing research through clinical survivorship programs. This webinar, part of the NCI Office of Cancer Survivorship (OCS) Director’s Series, also featured Precilla Belin, PhD, MA, MCHES of the NCI Office of Cancer Centers. Dr. Belin shared an overview on the role that office plays in advancing survivorship research.
05.07.2024On May 6, Kristin Smith, Fertility Preservation Patient Navigator at Lurie Cancer Center, shared insights on fertility issues faced by people with cancer as a Keynote Speaker at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s (NCCN) Oncology Policy Summit focused on how sexual and reproductive health can impact people with cancer before, during, and after treatment.
12.05.2023Feeling on cloud nine, I could see my future blooming into everything I wanted and more, until one day, I felt a lump in my breast. I had just turned 26 and although I didn't have family history, I decided to get it checked out. After a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy, I received a call from a nurse telling me I tested positive for invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer.
10.10.2023I am now 11 years cancer free. I will be forever grateful to my surgical oncologist, Dr. Jeffrey Wayne, for not only treating my cancer, but also for making me feel as comfortable as possible by including me in conversations and talking to me as a teenager and not as an adult.
06.17.2023Cancer was once considered a disease of aging, but rates are rising rapidly among people ages 15-39, research shows.
05.31.2023Those at higher risk had been treated with a specific category of chemotherapy
01.07.2022By Candice
09.23.2021By Gwen
05.28.2021By Meg
04.21.2021For childhood cancer survivors, learning to protect their health and embrace survivorship is a lifelong job. 20 years ago, the STAR Program (Survivors Taking Action & Responsibility), a clinical, research and education program for adult survivors of childhood cancer at the Lurie Cancer Center, was one of the first in the nation to take this innovative approach to long-term care, and serves as a model for other institutions seeking to meet the needs of the growing population of childhood cancer survivors.
04.20.2021Going through cancer during transitional adolescent and young adult years can present additional social, financial and mental health challenges that add to the stressors of diagnosis and treatment.
11.09.2020Hi! My name is Mohammed Kadiri. I am 19 years old, and I am currently a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am also serving as a member of Lurie Children’s Hospital AYA Advisory Council!
10.12.2020By Anthony Morales
10.05.2020By Lauren Lopriore
07.29.2020My cancer journey began when I was diagnosed with a stage 3/4 (Synovial/soft tissue) sarcoma in 2013 at age 23.
06.15.2020June 7, 2020 marked an important milestone for 15-year-old Charlie and his family. For months they’d been planning to celebrate Charlie’s 15th “cancerversary” as a retinoblastoma survivor at their 15th Cancer Survivors’ Celebration Walk & 5K.
05.26.2020Cancer Survivor Lanie Quinn Brewster on Melanoma.
05.06.2020Hi, I’m Lauren and I have a Grade III Astrocytoma, a type of brain cancer.
04.09.2020Being young is a challenge—hormones, school, life—but nothing was more challenging than when I was told I had cancer, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
04.07.2020My name is Ashli and I was diagnosed with Stage II Breast Cancer on June 13th, 2019 at 29 years old, and for the real kicker, while I was heading into my 26th week of pregnancy. I did not have a family history of breast cancer (or cancer in general), so when I discovered a lump in my breast, I chalked it up to pregnancy;
04.06.2020During her treatment at the Lurie Cancer Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Melanie began blogging to help her cope and let others know that even in the most difficult times, there is always hope and something to be grateful for. You can read more about Melanie’s journey on her blog at hopefulwarrior.com.
08.16.2019“For many, the days leading up to and following the scans are paralyzing and reinforce the sense of foreboding that even if you’re one of the lucky ones who received the ‘all-clear’ signal, you’re never really free from cancer.” Young adult cancer survivor Adriane Fink describes her “new normal.”
04.04.2019Nicholas Aiello was 28 when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.