"Most important, they provide a sense that you are not alone, and there are other people just like you," said Mr. Mlot.
Involvement can be strictly online, through chat rooms, or on Facebook, or can involve direct meetings with other survivors at local chapter events or national conferences, striking back at the isolation many young cancer patients describe.
Fulfillment also comes in the form of volunteering for the organization, said Mr. Mlot, cochair of the group in the Florida region, and a graduating senior geography major at University of Florida in Gainesville.
"I know how it feels when you first start the cancer journey, so I feel like I can be helpful to people first facing it."
Cancer Facts: Adolescents and Young Adults
• 70,000 adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer each year.
• About 1.4 million young adult cancer survivors in the United States.
• 1 in 100 college students is a cancer survivor.
• Cancer is the leading disease-related cause of death in adolescents/young adults.
• White, non-Hispanic adolescents/young adults have the highest incidence and the highest 5-year survival rates.
• American Indian and Alaskan Native adolescents/young adults have the lowest cancer incidence but also have poor 5-year survival rates.
• African Americans have the lowest 5-year survival rates.
• Incidence of some forms of cancer in adolescents/young adults is rising; for example, melanoma.
• In contrast to young children and older adults, survival rates in adolescents and young adults have not improved in decades
Sources:
National Cancer Institute: "A Snapshot of Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer" (Updated September 2010)
NCI: "Closing the Gap" 2006
i[2]y I’m Too Young For This! Cancer Foundation
No relevant financial disclosures were reported by the individuals quoted in this story.