I'm Too Young For This! : A Place For Young Adults Affected By Cancer

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WHO WE ARE

A TIME Magazine Best 50 Website for 2007, the I'm Too Young For This! Cancer Foundation, i[2]y, is the nation's fastest growing advocacy, support and research organization working exclusively on behalf of survivors and care providers under the age of 40.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to end isolation, improve quality of life and provide meaningful survivorship for young adults affected by cancer by:

serving as a global support community that provides 'one-stop' access to hard-to-find resources, peer support and social networks.
educating providers about the unique issues facing this population.
advocating on behalf of over 1 million young adult survivors to raise awareness of the 'cancer under 40' movement and drive change.
gaining a better understanding of the needs of young adult survivors.
using music and the arts to connect and unite young adults, build community and make it hip to talk openly about their experiences.

OUR GOAL

To improve the 5-year remission rate in young adults by 20% over the next 10 years through (1) improved medical education (to minimize delayed diagnosis and drive access to clinical trials), (2) consumer healthcare communications (to continue to raise awareness for this disparity) and (3) social media (to end isolation, foster community both offline and online and improve quality of life).

STATS & FACTS

(1) Cancer incidence in young adults (15-39) has doubled over the past 30 years to nearly 70,000 diagnosis each year.º

(2) Roughly 10,000 young adults (YA) die each year due to cancer.º

(3) The 5-year survival rates in YA has not improved over the past 30 years¹ and currently hovers on average in the low-to-mid 60% range. (As compared to high 80's in children and older adults)

(4) Why? Three reasons: delayed diagnosis, access to clinical trials and age-appropriate peer support that contributes to quality of life.º (Note that none of these reasons have anything to do with cancer research so helping YA doesn't necessarily mean white labcoats.)

(5) The #1 social issue faced by YA is isolation.

(6) Psychosocial research (quality-of-life) is tantamount to biological (clinical) research and the notion of survivorship vs 'cure'.²

(7) The entire medical community and cancer continuum at large is grossly uneducated as to how to effectively communicate with, diagnose, treat, support and follow-up with YA.

(8) Actual cancer 'research' in YA (all cancers) is different than cancer research in children and older adults. Donating your money to 'cancer research' today does not mean it will help young adults unless it specifically says so or if you specifically ask. Only a very small handful of young adult cancer research projects currently exist.

MORE STATS

(1) 1 in 50 Americans is between 18 and 40.²
(2) 1 in 50 Americans (18-40) is a cancer survivor. (est.)
(3) There are approximately 16 million Americans in college.²
(4) 1 in 100 college students is a cancer survivor. (est.)

The past 30 years of "progress" have failed survivors under 40 so there's no reason to think the next 30 years will be any different unless change starts now. Young adults are a critically underserved population who have much different needs (fertility, education, sexuality, peer support, financial aid, insurance, employment) than other age groups to survive and move forward with their lives.

Big box cancer organizations do not currently fund YA cancer research or support the most basic of financial services to the YA support community of organizations like this one. If these statistics make you want to puke and you truly want to start helping this new generation of cancer survivors, give to the groups without middlemen, where you know where your dollar goes and there is measured impact.

º source: NCI SEER Data, 2005
¹ source: NCI 'Closing The Gap', 2006
² source: IOM 'Cancer Care For The Whole Patient', 2007
³ source: US Census, 2007

HOW WE DO IT

We're using music, the arts and social media to organize, mobilize and activate young adults to the cause, destigmatize cancer as a death sentence and make it hip to talk openly about stupid cancer.

With an international provider network of over 400 cancer centers, we advocate on behalf of over 400 young adult support resources and over 1.1 million adolescent and young adult survivors* (ages 15-39) who are living with and beyond cancer in the US; a population for whom survival rates have not improved in 30 years.* (Watch the PSA)

*includes childhood survivors; source: NCI SEER Data, 2005

OUR PROCESS

Within the cancer continuum, i[2]y is unique in it's collaborative and noncompetitive approach by serving as an communications umbrella and edgy brand that is finally connecting the dots between patient, provider and resource. In doing so, we are innovating cancer advocacy by ending isolation and engendering the first international click-and-mortar social community of young adults affected by cancer.

Our precocious attitude disrupts the status quo of old-school thinking, challenges the way we think about "cure" and mobilizes young adults to the cause through the wealth of community and by making it hip to create, connect and unite in celebration of the art of survivorship.

OUR VISION

Our vision is to be the progressive, creative and disruptive voice for the young adult demographic in a future where the burden of cancer is marginalized to that of a manageable chronic condition—similar to HIV and diabetes—in a future where it is unilaterally accepted that survivorship is the cure to cancer.

WHO WE ARE

• about us
• our history
• leadership
• board of directors
• friends of i[2]y
• young adult leadership
• college community

ADVISORY COUNCILS

• survivorship
• strategic
• medical

MANIFESTO

• we are still here

Feeling isolated? The channels below will connect you with hundreds of age-appropriate resources and open the door to socially network with countless thousands of young adult survivors and caregivers.