I was diagnosed with a stage 4 blood cancer that affects elderly people – but I’m only 16
A new report out this week shows that America is turning the tide on several serious forms of cancer.
But while cancer rates are declining among older adults, a more worrying trend is emerging: cancer rates, including blood cancers, are increasing among children and young adults.
And because the youth are so young and historically at so little risk, the diagnosis is often not made until it is too late.
Alizabeth Rhodes of Michigan is one of a growing number of American minors affected by the disease that normally strikes older adults.
The 16-year-old girl’s family first knew something was wrong when she became increasingly exhausted and had less energy than normal.
She was taken to the emergency room in her home state at age 16 with “nonspecific” symptoms, which may have included swollen areas on her neck and armpit and fever or night sweats.
Alizabeth Rhodes, now 17, is pictured above. She was diagnosed with stage four peripheral T-cell lymphoma, which is normally discovered in adults over the age of 60.
Tests revealed she had stage four peripheral T-cell lymphoma, an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in which T cells, a type of blood cell, begin to divide out of control.
By the time the diagnosis was made, the cancer cells had already spread to several organs.
In July 2023, she was taken out of school after being diagnosed with cancer. She spent nine months in hospital, undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, and then a bone marrow transplant.
Mrs. Rhodes is now in remission and doctors describe her as “extremely resilient,” while her family said she was a “real fighter.”
But questions remain about why the young man, who is now 17 and has still not gone to school, was diagnosed with cancer.
Less than one in 100,000 Americans is diagnosed with the disease each year, and the vast majority are 60 or older.
It is extremely rare for the cancer to be discovered in children.
Dr. Joshua Goldman, an oncologist at Michigan Medicine who helped treat her, said, “There may be a few cases like hers and there is no standard treatment for this particular disease for someone her age.”
Mrs Rhodes was in and out of hospital for nine months undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy to treat her cancer. She is pictured above undergoing treatment
At the same time, data show that the number of blood cancers diagnosed in children is increasing – by a Study from 2016 The number of childhood leukemia diagnoses has increased by about 0.7 percent each year since 1975. Leukemia affects the bone marrow, which produces white blood cells.
A separate study from 2008 found that the incidence of all peripheral non-Hodgkin lymphoma — Ms Rhodes cancer — increased by 280 percent between 1992 and 2005 across all age groups.
And the Cancer Progress Report A report released this week by the American Association for Cancer Research, which works to prevent and cure cancer, also noted “growing concern” about the increasing incidence of certain cancers in children.
It fits into a broader trend of increasing cancer rates in children and young adults, including the emerging epidemic of colon cancer and the increase in non-melanoma skin cancer.
Doctors used to think that childhood cancer was a combination of genetics and bad luck.
But in the 2016 article on the rising number of leukemia cases, the scientists wrote that “the steady increase in incidence is a strong indicator that the origins of childhood leukemia are not influenced by genetics alone.”
According to the American Cancer Society, other scientists have suggested that the increase may be due to a possible link between childhood leukemia and exposure to pesticides, either during pregnancy or early childhood.
Research has also shown a possible link between cancer and exposure to chemicals such as benzene, which can be found in beauty products and hand sanitizers.
Ms Rhodes revealed her case, saying: ‘I wanted to share what I went through to help people understand. It’s a lot harder than you think.
‘Sometimes I felt like giving up, but I realized I couldn’t. I want to tell other people to never give up.’
She added: ‘It’s been a long journey and I know I’m not done yet, but I’m doing well and I’m happy to be home.
“I’m finally here, but I didn’t do it alone.”
Dr Mark Lugt, an oncologist who was also on her team, said: ‘This treatment is hugely disruptive to teenagers’ lives.
‘We take them out of school for more than a year, limit many activities and ask them to give up a lot.
“Lizzy has always handled everything exceptionally well. It was wonderful to see how much support she had from family and friends and how she maintained these connections in the hospital through social media and other means.”
The graph above shows the change in rates of early-stage cancer worldwide, broken down by female (pink) and male (blue).
Mrs. Rhodes was asked to take online school classes during her battle with cancer.
This was because the chemotherapy and radiation therapy had severely weakened her immune system, meaning that normal bacteria that most children can fight off could cause a serious infection.
She is now recovering, but she still has to be careful when she goes back to school or hangs out with her friends, as her immune system may struggle to fight off any illnesses she catches.
The US is not alone in seeing an increase in childhood cancers. Increases have also been noted in the UK, where the number of cases has risen by 15 percent since the 1990s, and in other Western countries.
Some experts attribute this to environmental exposure, but others point to other factors, such as fewer children dying at a young age and young people being exposed to diseases later in life than in modern society.
Dr Alastair Sutcliffe, a paediatrician at University College London, said earlier: ‘Of course cancer is a terrible event for any child and their family.
‘But one reason for this is that unfortunately there are many other conditions today that no longer kill as many children, such as premature births and infectious diseases.
“And while cancer rates may be increasing, overall childhood mortality is decreasing. Childhood cancer is an area where great success has been achieved.”
Ms Rhodes has since been declared in remission but is still being asked not to return to school as doctors fear she could develop an infection that could become serious
To treat Mrs. Rhodes’ cancer, doctors used chemotherapy and radiation to kill the cancer cells.
A bone transplant from a suitable donor was also performed to add new immune cells to the body. According to the doctors, these cells could help detect and kill any cancer cells that were still alive.
Peripheral non-Hodgkin lymphoma has an overall survival rate of at least 82 percent if the disease is detected early, before it has spread to other parts of the body.
But if the disease is only discovered after it has spread to other organs, as in Ms Rhodes’ case, the chance of survival drops to just 33 percent.
Dr. Lugt said: ‘Our outcomes for this diagnosis are often not favorable.
‘This type of cancer is rare in pediatrics, and because it is so rare, it is not always researched.
‘This means that there are many questions about what to do with children with rare malignancies that behave differently than in adults.
‘Determining the most appropriate treatment for patients like Alizabeth can be challenging because we don’t have as much information available.’