Roger Daltrey supports Teenage Cancer Trust's #AndYoungPeople campaign

When I think back on my life from the age of 13 to 26 those years were to have the biggest influence on my future. Young people are our future, so imagine being 18 years old and being told you have cancer! This is happening far too often to teenagers in the UK’s National Health service. 

We have to ask, why? 

There may not be any one particular answer, so think about this. 

Teenagers and young adults deserve to be diagnosed at the earliest opportunity! This may mean more training of GPs to recognise the early symptoms and be aware that this age group can get cancer. Also, the cancers they might have can be rare and extremely aggressive and difficult to treat. Early referral to a specialist consultant is paramount for this group. Time is of the essence. They also need to benefit from potentially life-saving clinical trials, and get the mental health support they need to help them cope with the devastating impact of cancer on their lives. 

At the moment, so many young people are missing out on the help they need and that Teenage Cancer Trust provides. 

As a country we’re constantly being reminded how much young people are needed. So maybe more public understanding of this issue is what is needed. 

The numbers of young people getting cancer at this age is rising at an alarming rate, some with cancers more usually seen in much older age groups. People need to know that getting cancer when you are young means that even if you do survive you will most likely face decades of late effects of cancer treatment. This is a long-term burden on the NHS which could be mitigated by a faster diagnosis that needs less intensive chemotherapy, radiation therapy and/or surgery. 

Society needs survivors to make productive contributions for as long as possible. We also need this age group, where possible, to have access to clinical trials. But if there aren’t suitable clinical trials available in the first place then access is not the root problem.  

Young people are getting cancers that they never used to. Some, like colon and breast cancer, are more aggressive and can respond differently to treatments that have been trialled in older people. For example, if you look at the stats by age you will see that young women with breast cancer often don’t respond so well to the drugs that have so far been developed and have worse outcomes. Quite simply their biology is different. Therefore clinical trials that focus on this population are needed and the government can be influential in getting pharmaceutical companies and research institutions to give more focus on trials in younger people.     

So what Teenage Cancer Trust are advocating will save the NHS money and improve the workforce of the nation. 

I am determined to get the powers that be in the NHS to take note of the age-specific issues adolescents and young adults face within the health system. Let’s aim to be the best in the world for them. 

Back in the Autumn I wrote to the Secretary of State for Health to raise awareness of these issues which included an invitation to visit one of our hospital units. As of this date I haven’t had a reply, but this is very much an open invitation - we would love to show him round so he can see the vital work that we do.