National Young Adult Cancer Awareness Week

By Heidi Adams, President & CEO

Here at Critical Mass, National Young Adult Cancer Awareness Week is a bit different for us this year. As we move through our organizational transition to legislative advocacy, our lens has shifted slightly. This year, we are taking a step back and looking at the broader ecosystem of young adult cancer: not just patients, but ALL the key stakeholders who have an impact on the life of an adolescent/young adult (AYA) with cancer.

How do they experience the best and worst of this world? How do systemic obstacles and barriers affect them in their daily life and work? How does that affect patients? To that end, our blog series this week will give a 360-degree view of AYA cancer from a variety of perspectives, including: oncologist, nurse, advocate, parent, program coordinator, researcher and, of course, the patients. Their personal stories will both put a face on the entire experience of AYA cancer and shine a light on the challenges in our system that we must tackle head-on to improve the lives of all AYAs with cancer.

Originally published at criticalmass.org on April 4, 2016.