EP5: The Young Adult Cancer Revolution: When the Next Generation Got Loud

The Cancer Mavericks: A History of Survivorship

For decades, cancer care had a massive blind spot: young adults.

If you were diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 39, you were basically invisible—too old for pediatrics, too young for geriatrics, and completely off the radar of clinical trials, support systems, and survivorship planning.

In this episode, Matthew Zachary introduces the origin story of the AYA (Adolescent and Young Adult) cancer movement—and how a pissed-off generation of young survivors said enough is enough.

We hear from advocates like Tamika Felder and Lindsay Norbeck, who survived cancer in their 20s and were left to deal with infertility, dating trauma, career detours, and the brutal realities of trying to “just be normal” when your body, future, and finances were blown apart.

We dive into fertility preservation battles, post-cancer sex lives that no one talked about, and the social isolation of being a survivor with no peers—because, until the mid-2000s, there wasn’t even a name for this group.

Also featured: the rise of Planet Cancer and Stupid Cancer, online hubs that became lifelines. Communities forged in dark humor, rage, resilience, and inside jokes only survivors could understand. And of course, the brief but meteoric LIVESTRONG era—when yellow wristbands made survivorship cool, if only for a moment.

This episode captures a time when young adults with cancer stopped asking to be noticed and started demanding change.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• AYA (Adolescent and Young Adult) cancer patients were ignored by the medical system for decades
• Survivors like Tamika Felder and Lindsay Norbeck spotlight the lasting toll: infertility, mental health, sex, and financial ruin
• No fertility coverage? Survivors had to fight insurers just to freeze eggs before chemo
• 1 in 3 AYA survivors experience sexual dysfunction; most never get told it might happen
• Planet Cancer and Stupid Cancer built the first digital communities for young adult patients
• The LIVESTRONG boom gave AYA cancer visibility, but the movement was built long before the wristbands

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