AYAO Article Archive

Cancer 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.

On 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.

I 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.

Those at higher risk had been treated with a specific category of chemotherapy

By Gwen

For 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.

Hi! 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!

By Lauren Lopriore

June 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.

Hi, I’m Lauren and I have a Grade III Astrocytoma, a type of brain cancer.

My 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;

“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.”

The author was diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was 22-years-old.

Board39, a patient advocacy group within the Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program of the Lurie Cancer Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, had a great time cheering on the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field!

The STAR Program (Survivors Taking Action & Responsibility) a clinical, research and education program for adult survivors of childhood cancer at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, will receive the inaugural FIERCE Award for Survivorship from the Biden Cancer Initiative, recognizing and celebrating the program’s “transformative impact on the lives of cancer patients.”