Risks of cancer at younger age?

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I lost my girl friend 3 month ago. She died of cancer. she was a vibrant, incredibly happy healthy 18 year old girl...Show more

I think you're asking what the "chances" are of developing terminal cancer at that young age. The chances are obviously very low if you have a good and positive lifestyle i.e. you eat healthy, you exercise, you don't smoke, you drink moderately if at all and you don't live in an overly polluted environment, you aren't exposed to asbestos in the work place.

But sometimes even when you control the controllables, you could be out of luck....Show more

Very low.

Most people diagnosed with cancer are over 60.

There are only a few types of cancer that might affect a child, teenager or young adult, and fewer than 0.015% of people under 20 develop cancer...Show more

I remember reading somewhere that it's around 1 in 4000 or something, in general. When cancer does occur in your age group, it's usually Hodgkin lymphoma, testicular cancer, thyroid cancer, or acute lymphoblastic leukemia, all of which have very high survival rates in young people. Soft tissue and bone sarcomas also happen at higher rates in young people, but they're very rare to begin with. Non-Hodgkin lymphomas can also occur, but they're also very uncommon. Most solid tumors (i.e. pancreatic, colorectal, lung, oral, etc. cancers) are exceedingly rare under age 40.

Don't worry about cancer, because even if you do get it (highly unlikely), you'll almost certainly be cured.

Edit: Mohin - I'm sorry to read about what happened to your friend. Horrible **** happens sometimes for no reason, and sometimes rare cancers can turn out to be fatal in young people. Still, it is very rare, so it's not worth worrying about if you're otherwise healthy....Show more

Just about zero....Show more