Preserve Our Potential

We are neither pediatrics nor geriatrics; we have unique needs - medically, developmentally, socially, and economically.

We have the right to have these unique needs recognised.

Like all age groups, we deserve to have our dignity, our beliefs, our privacy and our personal values respected.

Regardless of financial, familial, ethnic or other background, access to quality cancer care and age-appropriate support is a right, not a privilege.

Young people with cancer have the right to:

• Receive education about cancer and its prevention including early detection
• Be taken seriously when seeking medical attention and receive the earliest possible diagnosis and speedy referral for suspected cancer
• Have access to suitably qualified multi-disciplinary medical specialists with significant experience in treating cancer in this age group
• Information about and reasonable access to clinical trials and treatment that has been clinically trialled with people in their age group
• Receive age-appropriate support including, but not limited to, psychosocial, community and palliative support services
• Empowerment in making decisions supported by full and detailed explanation of all treatment options and long-term effects of the disease enabling them to actively influence their care
• Fertility preservation, as well as information and counselling concerning short-term and long-term effects of cancer and treatment which affect fertility
• Have access to specialised treatment and services in age-appropriate facilities alongside their peers
• Financial and practical support to minimise the burden of the disease during treatment
• Elimination of all forms of discrimination, during and beyond treatment, in education, vocation and insurance, or in the community.

Preserve our potential.

Mortality rates for the 18-39 demographic have not improved since the 70s. Unacceptable!