When Princess Catherine updated the world on her cancer status, it was gripping, somewhat sad and optimistic all at the same time. As more young people are diagnosed with cancer than ever before, demystifying the disease is the first step in helping us screen, diagnose, treat and survive cancer, now and in the future.
My Unsolicited Advice: Keep Sharing and showing Up
“Good days and bad days…. Not out of the woods… Learning to be patient, especially with uncertainty….” All of it so familiar to anyone who has ever been through cancer of other serious disease. It humanizes her and makes cancer less scary, and more a fact of life. Sadly it is more and more a fact of young people’s lives.
Why is it so important to talk about cancer? It can save lives. More awareness brings more understanding of how cancer shows up, and getting checked out when early or mysterious symptoms present themselves in younger people. With more younger people getting cancer, screening guidelines are shifting to younger patients as well. Getting screened may lead to early detection and ultimately intervention, treatment and cure.
As cancer becomes a younger person’s disease, we need to take the notion seriously that “pain and strange feelings” in the body of a 42 year old is not normal and needs to get checked out. We are too often stoic, reluctant to go to the doctor, and unaware that cancer is afflicting more people in their early decades than ever before. Consider this:
Cancer used to be an older person’s disease, but now, in a worldwide trend, new cancer cases among young people have been increasing sharply.
Early-onset cancers, defined as disease that strikes people under the age of 50, increased globally by a staggering 79% in the 30 years between 1990 and 2019 according to a 2023 study published in the journal BMJ Oncology.
Older adults (50+) experienced a drop in overall cancer incidence from 1995 to 2020, while among younger people, there was a notable increase in cancer.
The deadliest types of early-onset cancer (those that cause the highest death toll), according to the BMJ Oncology study:
- Breast cancer
- Tracheal
- Bronchus
- Lung cancer
- Stomach
- Colorectal
Why is Cancer on the Rise Among Young People?
“Dietary risk factors, alcohol use and tobacco consumption were the main risk factors for top early-onset cancers in 2019,” the researchers – from Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China, Harvard University in the US and the University of Edinburgh in the UK, among other institutions – wrote.
The study authors did not mention the higher levels of chemicals and plastics in our food and water, so I will. Every single chemical, plastic particle, toxin and stressor your body has to deal with may play a role, which cumulatively overwhelms its ability to self- cleanse, regulate and stay healthy.
Here’s where Kate comes in, and our advice to her as she continues treatment. She was disarmingly honest about having good days and bad, and learning to live with uncertainty. One of the hardest things about cancer is the unknowing — will it come back? What can you do to improve your odds, other than not smoke, modify drinking and maintain a healthy weight? (Kate does all of this.)
Some of the people we know have survived serious cancer (Fran Drescher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Robin Roberts, Hoda Kotb, ) and those who haven’t (Steve Jobs, Olivia Newton-John, Suzanne Somers, Gilda Ratner, and my friend Nina).
There are currently 18.1 million cancer survivors worldwide. That number is expected to rise given early detection, aggressive treatment and a higher cure rate. The number of cancer survivors is projected to increase by 24.4%, to 22.5 million, by 2032.
The uncertainty Kate talks about is a way of life for millions of survivors, who have to embrace it as a way of life. In 2022, 69% of cancer survivors had lived 5+ years since diagnosis; 47% of survivors lived 10+ years beyond diagnosis; and 18% of survivors had lived 20+ years since diagnosis. As more survivors continue to thrive, uncertainty becomes a way of life, and of living.
Our Analysis of Text – Notes in brackets.
I have been blown away by all the kind messages of support and encouragement over the last couple of months. [We love her reaching out to thank those who have written and we imagine her reading a few letters a day as a way of healing, and offering others encouragement and hope.] It really has made the world of difference to William and me and has helped us both through some of the harder times. [Sincere and heartfelt. Kate has that rare ability to lower the shroud of propriety and be real, as a wife, mother and now cancer patient and ultimately, a survivor.]
I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days. [She joins a legion of cancer patients who know that some days you don’t want to get out of bed, and when you feel well enough you hope to go back to normal life, even if it’s just for a few hours.] On those bad days you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting. But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well.
My treatment is ongoing and will be for a few more months. [This isn’t vague so much as honest. They need to keep going until they feel like they got all the cancer.]On the days I feel well enough, it is a joy to engage with school life, spend personal time on the things that give me energy and positivity, as well as starting to do a little work from home.
I’m looking forward to attending The King’s Birthday Parade this weekend with my family and hope to join a few public engagements over the summer, but equally knowing I am not out of the woods yet.[She pulled it off. Looked stunningly beautiful, strong and happy to be there, however briefly. Her return to duties may take this form, of dipping in and then sitting out, until she feels stronger and has more energy for things other than the all-important task of healing.]
I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty. [This is something all cancer patients have to learn to live with, since they can do everything right and still have a recurrence. A defeatist attitude only serves to waste precious time. There are no guarantees.] Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much needed time to heal.
Thank you so much for your continued understanding, and to all of you who have so bravely shared your stories with me. [She is the brave one. We are in awe of her ability to live a public life and heal in private. They more she shares the better it is for all cancer patients, and indeed anyone afflicted with any life-threatening disease.]
Cancer is scary but talking about it is human. Being vulnerable is real, and admitting that she “is not out of the woods yet” actually gives hope to all cancer patients, survivors and loved ones who themselves live with uncertainty every day.
Are any of us, ever really out of the woods? Everyone is always living with something, whether it’s grief, mental health issues like anxiety and depression, or physical ailments like heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, and a host of other conditions, including, yes, cancer. If you add up all humans who have some type of illness or condition or grief that they are living with, it would be nearly all of us. Hardly any of us are out of the woods. All we can do is enjoy the hike.
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