A new report this week found America is turning the tide on several major cancers.
But while cancer rates among older people are falling, a more worrying trend has emerged – cancers are on the rise in children and adults, including blood cancers.
And because these young people are young and historically at low risk, the diagnosis is often not made until it is too late.
Elizabeth Rhodes, of Michigan, is one of a growing number of American children who are affected by diseases that usually affect their parents.
The 16-year-old’s family first noticed something was wrong when he began to feel tired and lacked more energy than usual.
He was brought to the ER in his home country with ‘non-specific’ symptoms at age 16 – which may include a swollen area around his neck and armpits and fever or night sweats.
Alizabeth Rhodes, now 17, pictured above, was diagnosed with stage four peripheral T-cell lymphoma, which is usually detected in adults over the age of 60.
The tests showed he had stage four peripheral T-cell lymphoma, or an aggressive type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in which T-cells, a type of blood cell, begin to divide uncontrollably.
By the time it is diagnosed, the cancer cells have spread to many organs.
He was expelled from school in July 2023, after cancer was detected, and spent nine months in and out of hospital receiving chemotherapy, radiation and then a bone marrow transplant.
Mrs. Rhodes is now in remission with doctors describing him as ‘very resilient’ – while his family say he is a ‘real fighter’.
But questions remain as to why the teenager – who is now 17 and still hasn’t returned to class – developed cancer.
Fewer than one in every 100,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease each year, most of whom are 60 years or older.
Cancer is rarely detected in children.
Dr. Joshua Goldman, an oncologist at Michigan Medicine who helped treat her, said: ‘There are probably very few cases like hers and there is no standard treatment for this particular disease in people her age.’
Ms Rhodes spent nine months in and out of hospital receiving chemotherapy and radiation therapy to treat her cancer. He is pictured above during treatment
At the same time, data shows that blood cancers diagnosed among children are on the rise – with a 2016 study finding leukemia diagnoses in children have increased by about 0.7 percent annually since 1975. Leukemia affects the bone marrow that produces cells white blood.
A separate study from 2008 found that the incidence of all peripheral non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas – Ms Rhodes’ cancer – increased by 280 per cent between 1992 and 2005 in all age groups.
And the Cancer Progress Report released this week from the American Association for Cancer Research – which works to prevent and treat cancer – also notes ‘growing concern’ about the incidence of certain cancers in children.
It fits with broader cancer trends among children and young adults — including the emerging colon cancer epidemic and a surge in non-melanoma skin cancer.
Previously, doctors attributed childhood cancer to a combination of genetics and bad luck.
But in a 2016 paper on the rising cases of leukemia, scientists wrote that ‘the steady increase in incidence is a strong indicator that the origin of childhood leukemia is influenced not only by genetics’.
Other scientists suggest the increase may be linked between childhood leukemia and exposure to pesticides, during pregnancy or childhood – according to the American Cancer Society.
Studies have also shown a potential link between cancer and exposure to chemicals such as benzene, which can be found in beauty products and hand sanitizers.
Revealing the case, Ms Rhodes said: ‘I want to share what I do to help people understand. It’s harder than you think.
‘Sometimes I feel like giving up, but I know I can’t. I want to tell others not to give up.’
He 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 finally got here, but I didn’t do it alone.’
Dr Mark Lugt, an oncologist who was also on the team, said: “This treatment is disrupting the lives of teenagers.
‘We pulled him out of school for more than a year, restricted many activities and asked him to do a lot.
‘Lizzy always handles everything very well. It’s great to see how much support there is from family and friends and how they keep that connection in hospital through social media and other ways.’
The graph above shows changes in early-onset cancer rates worldwide broken down by women (pink) and men (blue)
Ms Rhodes was asked to attend online school classes during her battle with cancer.
That’s because the chemotherapy and radiation therapy she’s had has weakened her immune system, meaning the normal germs children fight off can cause serious infections.
He is now on the mend, but has been told to be careful going back to school or mixing with friends as his immune system may be struggling to fight off whatever illness he has.
The US is not unique in its surge in childhood cancer, with an uptick also detected in the UK – where cases have risen 15 percent since the 1990s – and other western countries.
While some experts blame environmental exposure, others point to other factors such as fewer children dying at an early age and children not being affected by disease until much earlier than before modern society.
Dr Alastair Sutcliffe, a pediatrician at University College London, said earlier: ‘Of course, cancer is a terrible thing for children and their families.
‘But one reason for this is that, unfortunately, there are many other conditions today that do not kill many children – such as premature birth and infectious diseases.
‘And although the number of cancer cases may be rising, the overall child mortality rate is falling, with childhood cancer being the area that has been winning the most.’
Ms Rhodes has now been declared in remission, but is still being asked not to return to school. Doctors fear that he may develop an infection that could become serious
To treat Ms Rhodes’ cancer, doctors use chemotherapy and radiation to kill cancer cells.
Bone transplants are also done from matching donors to add new immune cells to the body that doctors say can help hunt down and kill surviving cancer cells.
Peripheral non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma has an overall survival rate of at least 82 percent if caught in its early stages, before it spreads to other areas of the body.
But if it is not detected until it has spread to other organs, as in the case of Ms Rhodes, the overall survival rate drops to just 33 per cent.
Dr Lugt said: ‘Our results for this diagnosis are not always favorable.
‘These types of cancer are very rare in pediatrics and, because they are so rare, they are not always studied.
‘That means there are a lot of questions about what to do for children with rare cancers that don’t behave in the same way as adults.
‘Determining the most appropriate course of treatment for a patient like Elizabeth can be challenging because we don’t have a lot of information.’