Yung cancer

Summary

Today, Explained: Yung Cancer
Vox Media Podcast Network
Release Date: April 2, 2025

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Introduction

In the episode titled "Yung Cancer," Today, Explained delves into the alarming rise of cancer diagnoses among younger populations. Hosts Sean Rameswaram and Noel King explore the underlying reasons for this trend and examine how young individuals are coping with their diagnoses. The episode features insights from Vox producer Victoria Chamberlain, writer Dylan Scott, and cancer survivor Kate Zickel, providing a comprehensive look into this pressing health issue.

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Changing Landscape of Cancer Support

Victoria Chamberlain shares her experience attending a virtual support group for young adults battling cancer. Transitioning from in-person meetings to Zoom during the pandemic has broadened access, allowing individuals from across the country to connect, especially those who are immune-compromised.

“I hit up a zoom with a whole bunch of 30 to 40 year olds who are in the thick of cancer diagnosis and survivorship.”
[00:45] Victoria Chamberlain

The support group, organized by the nonprofit Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in D.C., emphasizes therapeutic art, poetry, and dynamic conversations about living with cancer. Victoria highlights the unique challenges millennials face compared to older adults, such as balancing career growth and parenting while undergoing treatment.

“Trying to maintain normalcy for him [her child]. When you're in your late 20s and 30s, your career is just starting to take off and then you get a cancer diagnosis and that can just kind of hit the pause button on the whole thing.”
[03:11] Victoria Chamberlain

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Rising Cancer Rates Among the Young

Dylan Scott, a writer for Vox, provides data-driven insights into the increasing incidence of cancer among individuals under 55. Citing studies, Dylan reveals that cancers like colorectal and breast cancer are on the rise in younger demographics.

“One in five new colorectal cancer patients in the US is under 55, which is twice the rate that we saw in 1995.”
[07:37] Dylan Scott

He discusses potential factors contributing to this surge, including changes in diet, increased consumption of processed foods, exposure to microplastics, and lifestyle factors such as poor sleep and lack of exercise. Dylan underscores the complexity of these causes, suggesting it's an "alchemy of all these things."

“It's a combination of we're eating worse, we're getting exposed to this stuff in our environment, we're still drinking a lot, we're not getting enough sleep, we're probably not exercising enough either.”
[09:24] Dylan Scott

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Understanding the Causes

Delving deeper, Dylan explains that environmental and dietary changes over the decades correlate with the rise in cancer rates. He references a study from New Zealand that links the proliferation of microplastics to increased cancer incidents, particularly in the digestive tract areas.

“If you eat more deep fried fruits, if you eat more processed foods... you are more likely to develop cancer.”
[09:46] Dylan Scott

This section highlights the need for further research to understand the precise mechanisms behind these trends and emphasizes the urgency of addressing lifestyle and environmental factors.

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Advances in Cancer Diagnostics and Treatment

Shifting to a more hopeful tone, Dylan discusses recent advancements in cancer diagnostics and therapies that offer better outcomes for young patients. Innovations such as home-administered tests for early detection and immunotherapies that train the body's immune system to fight cancer are revolutionizing treatment protocols.

“A lot of the improvements that we have seen to like, cancer prognoses... has been because we're developing these immunotherapies that are teaching the body how to fight the cancer by itself.”
[16:40] Dylan Scott

He also emphasizes the importance of genetic sequencing in identifying specific cancer types, allowing for more targeted and effective treatments. These advancements hold promise for improving survival rates and quality of life for young cancer patients.

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Personal Journey of a Cancer Survivor

Kate Zickel, a 29-year-old cancer survivor, shares her personal battle with breast cancer and her ongoing fight with metastatic disease. Diagnosed at a young age with no family history, Kate's story underscores the unpredictable nature of cancer and the critical role of medical advancements in her survival.

“Were it not for the advances in medical technology that have happened just in the last five to 10 years, I may not be here.”
[19:37] Kate Zickel

Kate details her treatment journey, including chemotherapy, radiation, double mastectomy, and reconstruction surgery. Her recurrence at stage 4 metastatic disease highlighted the persistent threat of cancer despite initial remission. She passionately advocates for continued funding and participation in clinical trials, stressing their life-saving importance.

“Without these trials, people will die. Without these trials, people will not live as long as they could with them.”
[25:27] Kate Zickel

Kate also addresses misconceptions about cancer appearances, noting that modern treatments can allow patients to maintain a normal appearance, which can be both a blessing and a challenge in conveying their true condition to others.

“People tend to have a very specific idea in mind when they think of cancer patients. And because cancer treatments have changed so drastically... we can be in treatment and look great.”
[22:30] Kate Zickel

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Conclusion: Hope Amidst Challenges

The episode concludes on a hopeful note, emphasizing the strides made in cancer research and treatment. Hosts encourage listeners to stay informed, advocate for continued research funding, and support advancements that can make a tangible difference in the lives of young cancer patients.

“The goal here is to beat the clock where, as a survivor now who's on treatment, My goal is to make the current treatment I'm on last as long as possible... so that the longer we live.”
[16:40] Kate Zickel

Today, Explained effectively highlights the growing concern of cancer in younger populations while balancing the discussion with inspiring stories of resilience and medical progress. The episode serves as a crucial reminder of the evolving landscape of cancer diagnosis and treatment, urging collective action to support those affected.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• “Cancer does not care what age you are.”
  [04:09] Dylan Scott

• “Know your own body. Know what your normal feels like.”
  [23:26] Kate Zickel

• “We are desperate for [clinical] trials. We are dying without them.”
  [25:42] Kate Zickel

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Credits

Today, Explained is produced by Victoria Chamberlain with contributions from Dylan Scott, Amina Al Saadi, Laura Bullard, Andrea Christen's daughter, and Patrick Boyd. Special thanks to all participants who shared their stories and expertise.

Transcript

[Sean Ramisvir]

What do James Van Der Beek, Dwayne Wade and Kate Middleton have in common? They're all youngish people who have been diagnosed with cancer. And it's not just famous people. Younger and younger people are getting cancer more and more. That's facts. So we here today explained wanted to figure out why and figure out how people are dealing with this. So we sent out our producer Victoria Chamberlain to a meet up for young adults with cancer. Victoria, where'd you go?

[Victoria Chamberlain]

I didn't go anywhere, Sean.

[Sean Ramisvir]

You didn't go anywhere? You failed.

[Victoria Chamberlain]

The pandemic changed everything, including cancer support groups. So there's one that used to happen in person and then it shifted to zoom so that more people from around the country could go and people who are immune compromised because they have cancer.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Okay, so you hit up a zoom.

[Victoria Chamberlain]

I hit up a zoom with a whole bunch of 30 to 40 year olds who are in the thick of cancer diagnosis and survivorship.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Okay. What Victoria learned coming up on Today Explained.

[Kate Zickel]

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[Victoria Chamberlain]

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[Kate Zickel]

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[Victoria Chamberlain]

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[Kate Zickel]

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[Victoria Chamberlain]

A little bit of news before we start today's news show.

[Dylan Scott]

News you can use.

[Victoria Chamberlain]

You can now listen to today Explained without listening to any ads. In order to do this, you just need to become a VOX member. When you become a member, you're going to be supporting the work that we do on today explained. And you'll also get unlimited access to to Vox.com just go to Vox.com members to sign up.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Today explained. Sean Ramisvir. I'm here with Victoria Chamberlain. Victoria, you go to a cancer meetup from the comfort of your own home. It's a zoom. Who is organizing this thing?

[Victoria Chamberlain]

So it's this nonprofit organization that's based here in D.C. it's called the Smith center for healing and the arts. And they support cancer patients in a bunch of different ways. They do things like therapeutic art and poetry and a whole lot of support groups. But their whole thing is that they want people to feel like they're gonna be okay no matter what happens to them.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Nice. And you go to one of these support groups remotely. What was it like? What's the vibe? Is it like the saddest meetup you've ever gone to.

[Victoria Chamberlain]

Yeah, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't sad. I mean, it's like a bunch of people that I would consider to be pretty young who have diagnosed with cancer. But there were all these really dynamic conversations going on between the people talking about how to live while they're going through this. And it made me just kind of realize, sitting with these people, like, how much we don't know about cancer, about what it's like to live with cancer as a person in your mid-30s. And the people in the group just really wanted to stress how different their challenges are as millennials than a person in their 70s. A person who's older, their kids might be grow, but a millennial might have, like, little kids in the house. My son was 18 months when I was diagnosed. Obviously, like, I need to work in order to keep my child in daycare. Cause I'm not able to physically take care of him. Also, like, trying to maintain normalcy for him. When you're in your late 20s and 30s, your career is just starting to take off and then you get a cancer diagnosis and that can just kind of hit the pause button on the whole thing. I was at the peak of my career.

[Dylan Scott]

You know, I was a VP with a financial institution.

[Kate Zickel]

I was traveling.

[Dylan Scott]

I was just doing all the things.

[Victoria Chamberlain]

And I am a single woman, graduated from law school in 2019.

[Dylan Scott]

So I'm kind of in this, like.

[Victoria Chamberlain]

Build up period in my career.

[Dylan Scott]

What felt very crushing when I had time to kind of sit and try to process everything is that it's really mourning a lot of loss.

[Victoria Chamberlain]

Of what? Your life?

[Dylan Scott]

The day that I went to get a biopsy, my promotion was announced at work. The day after I got a call saying, you have breast cancer.

[Victoria Chamberlain]

And as if dating wasn't hard enough as it is, dealing with the physical and emotional stuff that happens and the craziness of cancer, it just makes that so much harder. And if I want to go out and like, meet people and date people, I've had a unilateral mastectomy. And when I show up, I have to both be physically naked and emotionally naked. But there was also this element of surprise. Like, even though you're hearing tons of news stories out there about millennials getting cancer, you mentioned a couple of them before. We've got Princess Kate and Chadwick Boseman. It's still super shocking to be sitting there and receive that diagnosis and then to hear that other people you know, or maybe people that you don't know are young and getting cancer One of the most frustrating comments that I would hear people say is, oh, you're so young. And to me, that's. It's frustrating because it's like, cancer does not care. Cancer does not care what age you are. It does not care what your life was like, what dreams you had, what hopes, what things you were about to do. It does not care. It just comes in and it interrupts and it just intersects.

[Dylan Scott]

You always think, oh, it's. It won't be me.

[Victoria Chamberlain]

It can't be me.

[Dylan Scott]

And I think that's the biggest thing that this data that's out there has to be telling us and our peers is that we can no longer just assume it can't be me. And we need our healthcare system also to be that messenger and to step up, because no one had ever said to me, even being the daughter of a breast cancer survivor and with a father fighting cancer, you are at risk.

[Sean Ramisvir]

This is exactly what we wanted to focus on today. And this is exactly why we reached out to our colleague Dylan Scott, because we wanted someone who's written about this to just tell us that we're not just imagining things. Right? That it feels like way more millennials and younger people in their 30s and 40s are getting cancer.

[Dylan Scott]

Yes, Sean, as a millennial who is also a hypochondriac, I regret to inform you that younger people, people under 55, which is usually the definition of an early onset cancer case, are in fact getting cancer more often. There's a couple of ways to slice it. The Wall Street Journal ran an analysis last year of National Cancer Institute data, and the way they put it was one in five new colorectal cancer patients in the US is under 55, which is twice the rate that we saw in 1995. There was another study that found that, I think it was between 1990 and 2019, the rates overall of cancer among younger people had increased by 80%. It seems like no matter how you look at it, and I looked at variety of studies from my story, cancer rates among young people are increasing, which I don't know about you, I feel like, fits with just my, like, observations in the world.

[Sean Ramisvir]

And you're using some studies from the 90s to compare rates, but when did we start seeing that more young people are getting cancer?

[Dylan Scott]

Yeah, it's definitely something that's built slowly over time. I talked to a guy at Georgetown named John Marshall, and, you know, he's been in this field for decades. And he said, you know, at the beginning of his career, he never would have seen A cancer patient under the age of 50. But these days, he sees it all the time. And the way he put it to me is that at least anecdotally, you know, people who practice cancer medicine, who treat cancer patients, you know, they start. It's like everybody kind of started to notice at the same time about a decade ago, like, huh, it suddenly it seems like I'm starting to get more and more young people coming in with more advanced cancers and more aggressive cancers. And so then we started to see some of this data that I'm referencing that sought to quantify, like, how big has the change really been? And they did confirm that. Yeah, this isn't just people's perceptions. At the population level, There are higher rates of cancers among young people.

[Sean Ramisvir]

What kinds of cancers? Dylan, you mentioned colorectal cancer. Is it just that one? Are there other ones?

[Dylan Scott]

Colorectal cancer, I think, is the big one. It is. If you look at the incident rates in some of these studies, besides breast cancer, it is the type of cancer that has the highest incidence among young adults. But it's not just colorectal cancer. It's uterine cancers, gallbladder, kidney cancers. People might have heard about Dwyane wade, who is, like, by this definition, a young adult, to find out, obviously, at 41 years old, pretty healthy guy, that I did have cancer. So I have one kidney, and I have another kidney that is 60%. They took 40% of my kidney to.

[Victoria Chamberlain]

Make sure that they can get all.

[Dylan Scott]

The cancer off of it. It seems to be sort of up and down the digestive track where this seems to be happening, with the one exception is breast cancer, which we've continued to see a higher rate of breast cancer among young people over the same period. But if we set that aside, which is obviously like a big exception, it seems to be a lot happening. Yeah, up and down the digestive track. That's where we're seeing in particular, these big increases over time among young people.

[Sean Ramisvir]

What is going on in the digestive tract, Dylan?

[Dylan Scott]

So this is maybe the most interesting thing that I learned in reporting out this study and talking to a bunch of these cancer researchers who are as befuddled by all of this as we are. So it seems that your individual risk of many different type of cancers actually depends on something that's totally out of your control, which is when you were born, like, somebody who was born in 1975 had nearly twice the chance of developing, like, an intestinal cancer compared to somebody who was born in 1955, 20 years earlier. And likewise, if we look like at younger people, people born in 1990, they're at even a higher risk of developing cancers than those people born in 1955 or even 1975. A couple of things likely at work here. One does seem to be, like, the changes in food production and the proliferation of processed foods, which is obviously something that, like, basically, if you eat in the modern world, you're consuming more processed foods than people used to. And so there have been, like, systematic reviews of the available literature, including one that was published this in 2022 that have said, like, if you eat more deep fried fruits, if you eat more processed foods, if you eat foods high in fat, sugary drinks and desserts, and if you're really bad about eating fiber and things that are really good for your digestive system, you are more likely to develop cancer. And so that tracks, you know, when we think about, like, the obesity crisis, like, we know that our diets have been getting worse and they've been contributing to all kinds of negative health outcomes like diabetes and heart disease. And it seems like cancer is another example of, like, the how these changes in our diet and our food production may be leading to adverse outcomes. There's also been a lot of focus on microplastics. And we've likewise seen that those just, like, have proliferated in the environment over the period from, like, you know, the 70s to today, where we've seen this big increase in cancer incidents among young people. And there was actually a specific paper published by a research team based in New Zealand that basically track the timeline of the multiplication of microplastics in the environment and the cancer rates among young people. And they basically found that they seem to be happening in parallel. It's an alchemy of all these things. It's a combination of we're eating worse, we're getting exposed to this stuff in our environment, we're still drinking a lot, we're not getting enough sleep, we're probably not exercising enough either. And when you stir all of those things together, you have more young people developing cancer.

[Sean Ramisvir]

If Dylan's got you feeling depressed, we're going to ask him to hit you with a dose of hope when we return on today Explained. Support for today Explained comes from Shopify. I think you might have to be a little bit crazy to start your own business, they say, or maybe just delusional because the amount of work required to start and grow your own company is so wild, no one in their right mind would take it on. Luckily, there are supportive partners out there that can take some of that work off your place. Guess who's one of them? If you want to add an essential member to your team, a platform you and your customers can rely on, you might want to check out Shopify. Want to upgrade your business and get the same checkout Mattel uses? You can sign up for your $1 per month trial [e-mail] explained. That's shopify.com explained to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com explained Mattel. You guys also Heinz. They both turned to Shopify to sell more products to more customers. Businesses that sell more sell with shop.

[Dylan Scott]

It's been reported that one in four people experience sensory sensitivities, making everyday experiences like a trip to the dentist especially difficult. In fact, 26% of sensory sensitive individuals avoid dental visits entirely. In Sensory Overload, a new documentary produced as part of Sensodyne's Sensory Inclusion Initiative, we follow individuals navigating a world not built for them, where bright lights, loud sounds and unexpected touches can turn routine moments into overwhelming challenges. Burnett Grant, for example, has spent their life masking discomfort in workplaces that don't accommodate neurodivergence. I've only had two full time jobs where I felt safe, they share. This is why they're advocating for change through deeply personal stories like Burnett's, Sensory Overload highlights the urgent need for spaces, dental offices and beyond that embrace sensory.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Inclusion because true inclusion requires action with.

[Dylan Scott]

Environments where everyone feels safe. Watch Sensory Overload now streaming on Hulu.

[Sean Ramisvir]

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[Kate Zickel]

You're Listening to today explained.

[Dylan Scott]

Look, it's really scary to be confronting these trends, but there is a lot of promising activity when it comes to both cancer diagnostics and cancer treatment. We are starting to make it easier for people to like, administer tests at home that might give them an idea of either whether they, you know, there's something in their blood or their stool that indicates they may be developing cancer right now, or they can get tested for like, their genetic background. And maybe they have just like those sort of built in risks because of their genes. And like, you know, there's blood tests that have been developed that are like, really good at catching late stage cancers. And now, so the next, you know, the next frontier for them is trying to catch early cancers or like pre cancerous growths. And so I think, like, as those consumer products keep developing, like, that should allow us to screen more people, screen younger people, and hopefully catch some of these cancers earlier so that we can have better outcomes. And so that's on the, that's on the diagnostic side in terms of treatment. Like, you know, I've been writing about this for 10 years now. Like, there's been a ton of progress with what are called immunotherapies, which is, you know, the old way of treating cancer has been we're gonna just blast this shit with as much radiation as we can find and hope that that kills the cancer, because otherwise we don't know how to do it. But it obviously has all of these really terrible side effects. People feel horrible, they lose their hair, whatever. And what we're trying to do now with these immunotherapies is like, let's remove radiation and all this chemical nastiness from the equation. Let's like, train the body's immun to fight these cancers on its own. A lot of the improvements that we have seen to like, cancer prognoses, especially among older people, has been because we're developing these immunotherapies that are teaching the body how to fight the cancer by itself. And then when you combine things like genetic sequencing, like cancer, we talk about cancer as like one thing, but it's actually like, you know, thousands upon thousands of different diseases and being able to identify, like, okay, we know you have like a tumor in your colon, but if we can test it genetically and figure out exactly what type of colon cancer it is, then we can get you, make sure we get you the exact right therapy that, you know, has these proteins or whatever that can better target that cancer.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Okay, so there's some good news in theory, better diagnostics better treatment, but we wanted to hear from someone who's experienced it. So we turn to someone producer Victoria met at that cancer meetup. Kate Zickel.

[Kate Zickel]

How do I identify myself on the show? I'm from Alexandria, Virginia. I run a digital marketing agency out of my home. Married. Which is awesome.

[Sean Ramisvir]

I love that no one's ever said that one before. That's good. That's good. Kate told us that those immunotherapies that Dylan was just talking about are the reason she's living a full life right now.

[Kate Zickel]

Let me read it this way. Were it not for the advances in medical technology that have happened just in the last five to 10 years, I may not be here.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Kate's had cancer twice. The first time she discovered it was in 2017 after her husband found a lump in her breast.

[Kate Zickel]

Went through chemo, radiation, double mastectomy, and reconstruction surgery. Took about a year from September of 2017 to September of 2018. And then after that, thought I was in remission. Took hormone suppressors for two years before being diagnosed with a recurrence at stage 4 metastatic disease. After it had moved to my bones and my lungs.

[Sean Ramisvir]

So the cancer's still there.

[Kate Zickel]

Yeah. So I've had metastatic cancer for almost five years. And the thing about metastatic breast cancer now is that it's not always the immediate death sentence that it used to be. You can actually live a pretty long time with metastatic breast cancer, depending on where it is in your body and how quickly it grows.

[Sean Ramisvir]

And can I ask how old you were when you discovered that you had this cancer back in 2017?

[Kate Zickel]

Yeah. So I was originally diagnosed with breast cancer at 29 years old.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Huh.

[Kate Zickel]

No family history at all. No indications that that would be a thing in my life. And, you know, you just hear. You know, you hear all the. The ads and the awareness about self checks that you should do. And we typically don't recommend mammograms until the age of 40 or actually 50, really. But they're starting to change that now that we're seeing more and more young women diagnosed with breast cancer. So I was pretty young. I was. I was 29, and then I think 33 when my recurrence was diagnosed.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Yeah. Is it weird for you? I'm sure at times throughout this process, you've looked like you had cancer. And I'm looking at you right now. For all those people listening on the radio or on their phones or in their cars or whatever it might be who can't see you, you do not look like someone I guess who has cancer, But I guess, is that, like, a perception you have to deal with? I mean, that people think someone with cancer is going to look a certain way or not look a certain way?

[Kate Zickel]

Yeah, people definitely still have the idea that a cancer patient looks wan and thin and pale. And people tend to have a very specific idea in mind when they think of cancer patients. And because cancer treatments have changed so drastically, even in just in the last 10 years, it's actually very different now. I looked normal. You wouldn't know, but I was still in the middle of all of these crazy, painful processes. It's a good thing. Like, we're very grateful that those technologies exist now where we can be in treatment and look great. But just because we look great doesn't mean that we are. And sometimes that can be difficult to explain.

[Sean Ramisvir]

What would you say to people who, like, live in fear from what they've just heard from you?

[Kate Zickel]

I would say, don't freak out until a medical professional tells you to freak out.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Okay.

[Kate Zickel]

Know your own body. You know, most of us do anyway, but, like, know your body. Know what your normal feels like. And then if something isn't normal, ask. And if your doctors ignore you, which most doctors are, great, and they will take you seriously. But if they don't, get a second opinion, get a third opinion. Ask. Take the time out of work to go to those appointments. If you need to do your own homework, get a genetic test. You can do that. They'll take a blood test, and they'll go through your genetics and they'll tell you what your risk factors are. The treatment I am on now came into existence between 2017 and 2020. The one that I will go on next came out five years ago. The changes and the speed at which medical technology is keeping pace is incredible. We are so lucky to live in a time where that is true. The goal here is to beat the clock where, as a survivor now who's on treatment, My goal is to make the current treatment I'm on last as long as possible so that the next treatment I'm on will be available, and then that one will last a long time until we've got a new study that proves another drug that's available. And as long as we're able to keep pace with that, the longer we live. So I would. I would just encourage anybody who's kind of curious about this, like, do your homework. Ask your doctors. Like, those trials are, Those clinical trials are out there, and we need them. We are desperate for them. We are dying without them. And anybody who wants to cut funding to those trials can just give me a call.

[Sean Ramisvir]

What would you say to them?

[Kate Zickel]

Without these trials, people will die. Without these trials, people will not live as long as they could with them. Without these trials, you were taking away the hope of others.

[Victoria Chamberlain]

Sorry.

[Kate Zickel]

I'm, like, shaking now. I'm, like, so angry about this. The people who are funding these trials need to understand that it is part of their job to keep us alive, to keep us hopeful, to keep our medication moving forward. By taking that away from us, you're killing. You're literally killing us. By taking that away from us, you are taking away years that we could have with our children, years that we could spend with our parents. If you take away the trials that gave us the drugs that help us live longer, you need to answer for that. You need to be held accountable to the people whose lives you are hurting. Sorry. I didn't realize how passionate I was about that until you asked me the question. And I'm like, oh, I'm really angry.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Seems reasonable. Kate, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. Nice to get to know you and wishing you all the best.

[Kate Zickel]

Yeah, this is fun.

[Sean Ramisvir]

Victoria Chamberlain produced our show today. She wants to dedicate it to her dad's colon. Thanks to everyone who spoke with Victoria, including Dylan Scott, who you can [e-mail] she had help from Amina Al Saadi, Laura Bullard, Andrea Christen's daughter, and Patrick Boyd, who all work here at Today, explained.