Amiee's Place Foundation

"Big box cancer organizations do not currently fund

YA cancer research or support the most basic of

social services to the YA support community of

organizations like this one. If these statistics make

you want to puke and you truly want to start helping

this new generation of cancer survivors, give to the

groups without middlemen, where you know where

your dollar goes and there is measured impact.

Don't get lost in a sea of 10,000 people racing for

cures."

STATS & FACTS

(1) Cancer incidence in young adults (15-39) has doubled over

the past 30 years to nearly 70,000 diagnosis each year.º

(2) Roughly 10,000 young adults (YA) die each year due to

cancer.º

(3) The 5-year survival rates in YA has not improved over the

past 30 years¹ and currently hovers on average in the low-to-

mid 60% range. (As compared to high 80's in children and

older adults)

(4) Why? Three reasons: delayed diagnosis, access to

clinical trials and age-appropriate peer support that

contributes to quality of life.º

(Note that none of these reasons have anything to do with

cancer research so helping YA doesn't necessarily mean

white labcoats.)

(5) The #1 social issue faced by YA is isolation.

(6) Psychosocial research (quality-of-life) is tantamount to

biological (clinical) research and the notion of survivorship

vs 'cure'.²

(7) The entire medical community and cancer continuum

at large is grossly uneducated as to how to effectively

communicate with, diagnose, treat, support and follow-

up with YA.

(8) Actual cancer 'research' in YA (all cancers) is different

than cancer research in children and older adults.

Donating your money to 'cancer research' today does not

mean it will help young adults unless it specifically says

so or if you specifically ask. Only a very small handful

of young adult cancer research projects currently exist.

MORE STATS

(1) 1 in 50 Americans is between 18 and 40.²
(2) 1 in 50 Americans (18-40) is a cancer survivor. (est.)
(3) There are approximately 16 million Americans in college.²
(4) 1 in 100 college students is a cancer survivor. (est.)

Big box cancer organizations do not currently fund YA

cancer research or support the most basic of social

services to the YA support community of organizations

like this one. If these statistics make you want to puke

and you truly want to start helping this new generation

of cancer survivors, give to the groups without middlemen,

where you know where your dollar goes and there is

measured impact. Don't get lost in a sea of 10,000 people

racing for cures.

º source: NCI SEER Data, 2005
¹ source: NCI 'Closing The Gap', 2006
² source: IOM 'Cancer Care For The Whole Patient', 2007
³ source: US Census, 2007