Category: Awareness

International AYA Cancer Art Showcase

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For AYA Awareness Month 2026, It’s time to show your creativity! Have your artwork exhibited for the world to see!

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) aged 16-39 around the world are invited to submit artwork to Art Connects Cancer: A Global Picture, an international art showcase being held in honor of AYA Cancer Awareness Month in April.

Submit artwork of any medium that showcases any aspect of your own cancer experience. Treatment, side-effects, survivorship, local stigmas, community, emotions, anything that represents the experience you had dealing with AYA cancer.

We invite anyone who is aged 16-39 to submit whether you are someone with a cancer diagnosis yourself, part of the support system around an AYA diagnosed with cancer, or a healthcare or non-profit professional that actively work with AYAs to submit.

Submission Window: You can submit artwork starting on 1st April 2026. All submissions are due on 8th May 2026.

SUBMIT HERE

What Can I Submit?

  • Paintings, drawings, digital art (non-AI), photography, mixed media
  • and sculpture are accepted
  • Digital image of artwork (JPEG, PNG, PDF)
  • one entry per person
  • No hate speech or inappropriate content
  • Artist statement (max 100 words)

Who Is Eligible?

In an effort to be inclusive of all international definitions of AYA, this showcase is open to individuals currently aged 16-39 from all countries.

Artists must be;

  • An AYA cancer patient or survivor diagnosed between the ages of 12-39.
  • Friends, family members and caregivers of an AYA cancer patient or survivor.
  • Healthcare or non-profit professionals that actively work with AYA’s.

How Do I Submit My Artwork?

All entries must be submitted via the form linked here.

What Is An Artist’s Statement?

Explore your creativity and express your unique experience through your artwork. Upload an image of your original art along with an artist statement (max 100 words) sharing what your art is about and what inspired your piece.

We look forward to seeing your ARTWORK!

Music Connects Cancer: A Global Playlist – Another AYA Cancer Awareness initiative, playlist with a difference! Created by young adult cancer patients from around the world. These tracks will help you feel, heal, and connect to others on a similar journey. Music can uplift, soothe, inspire, and bring a smile to your face – even if only for a length of a song. 

Submit A Song

2024’s Spotify Playlist

Liquid Biopsy S.E.E. Summit

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Teen Cancer America is hosting an online summit for anyone interested in the emerging field of Liquid Biopsy. 

Our interest in this field is because of the possibilities it holds for cancer prevention and reducing late diagnosis in young people with cancer in order to improve outcomes and survival . 

We are providing an opportunity to learn about the latest science and then we will explore complex issues such as access, equity, cost and coverage with an expert panel including advocates.

Registration is free 

TCA Hospital Partners Create Monthly Series for Adolescents and Young Adults

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Newsletter-June-2021-Hospital-Story

This past year, we have seen incredible growth in AYA program development through collaboration. Hospitals are sharing and learning from one another in an effort to expedite program growth and enhance the services they’re able to provide young people facing cancer. Two of our hospital partners, UC Davis and UCLA, have partnered to further their impact on AYA support and education. We are so encouraged by their creativity and dedication to meeting the needs of their patients and survivors. Check-out the great work they’re doing!

Learn & Lounge is a monthly series meant to empower adolescents and young adults during cancer treatment and beyond.

The series was started in February 2021 in response to feedback from both the UC Davis Health and UCLA Health AYA Advisory Boards. Members of our AYA Advisory Boards expressed a wish for more social events to connect with one another throughout the year, in particular between the annual Pushing Past Cancer Conference co-hosted by UC Davis Health, UCLA Health, and Stupid Cancer. Since the conference is a joint effort of the two UC health systems, it made sense to continue this partnership throughout the year. 

The Learn & Lounge usually starts with introductions or an icebreaker that is followed by a short educational session on a topic of interest/relevance to AYA patients and survivors (e.g. program and partner resources, work & career, sexual health, etc.). After the education session there is a social hour for patients/survivors only – no health care professionals allowed! For the social hour, participants need to be over age 18 and to have agreed to privacy and confidentiality standards. 

Attendance at Learn & Lounge has ranged from 6-16 participants and initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive (formal evaluation pending). The most highly attended sessions have been those that promised to be the most fun – for example, a recent AirBnB “virtual experience” sponsored by the Northern & Southern chapters of Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Post-COVID we may experiment with holding Learn & Lounge in-person in our respective parts of California; however, the value of meeting virtually is that participants can join us from wherever they are – whether in another city or town, in the hospital or out in the backyard. 

Having our AYA programs partner together on Learn & Lounge helps to lessen the workload associated with planning and hosting the monthly series and assists in boosting attendance at events. It also strengthens the relationships between our AYA programs and the members of our AYA Advisory Boards, and with other organizational partners who contribute to the series. We hope that Learn & Lounge will continue to grow and be a resource in building an AYA cancer community that is accessible and supportive of all AYA patients, survivors, caregivers and partners. 
We look forward to our Learn & Lounge events on Medical Marijuana and Career Coaching/Goal Setting later this summer! For more information please email: arosenbaum@ucdavis.edu or JPLeavitt@mednet.ucla.edu

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TCA To Host Game Nights

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TCA is hosting weekly game nights via Zoom to provide an opportunity for teens and young adults to connect with their peers.

TCA Advocate Discusses Sarcoma Awareness Month

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We had a chance to sit down and have a Q&A with one of Teen Cancer America’s (TCA) Young Ambassadors, Gailon, to discuss Sarcoma Awareness Month.
  1. According the National Foundation For Cancer Research, Sarcoma is often deemed the “What kind of Sarcoma did you have? I was diagnosed with small round blue cell undifferentiated sarcoma.
    1. Does telling your story get easier or harder over time?
    For me, telling my story has gotten easier over time. Since I am an oncology social worker, I spend most of my day listening to other people tell me their stories. I think that there is something very therapeutic about sharing an experience like young adult cancer. Prior to getting diagnosed, I don’t think my friends and I thought about cancer much at all. Telling my story has helped cancer to feel less like a scary unknown entity and more like something that I can manage.
    1. You were misdiagnosed with “Bursitis” and told to take Aleve and everything would be okay? What made you get a second opinion?
    I have a condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which causes pain in my joints, so bursitis did not seem like that unlikely of a diagnosis to me. I have dealt with chronic pain all my life and had many doctors who told me that this was what I had to learn to live with, so when the doctor at urgent care told me that is what she thought was going on I felt okay just leaving it at that. My mom was the one who encouraged me to get a second opinion because she could tell how severely the pain was affecting me. She asked my primary care doctor to order and MRI for additional imaging. That was the test that finally showed my tumor for the first time and eventually led to my diagnosis.
    1. Has hearing stories from other patients, survivors, or caregivers helped you in your journey?
    Hearing stories from other people affected by cancer has been immensely helpful for me. After my diagnosis, I felt like I had gone to a place none of my friends had been to before and no matter how hard I tried to describe it and how willing they were to try to understand, it was still an isolating experience. Meeting other young adult cancer patients and survivors gave me the validation that I am not the only person who has felt the way that I did. There are few things that have brought me as much comfort as hearing someone say “that happened to you too!?”
    1. What was it like being in college and having to go through treatment?
    I wasn’t able to attend classes while undergoing treatment, which was probably one of the most difficult things for me to process at that time. I hated knowing that all of my friends lives were moving forward at our college while mine had been put on hold. When I returned, I was welcomed back by my friends but there were still awkward moments, like being the only bald girl in class, that made me feel very separate from everyone. My campus was pretty small and I think word about my situation spread pretty quickly once I returned. All of my friends were extremely supportive of me taking the time that I needed to transition back into college life. They helped me to realize how exciting the milestones I was experiencing, such as getting my first clean scan post-treatment, were. In terms of the support I received from my friends and family, my first semester back at college is one that I look back on very fondly. However, one aspect that I really struggled with was learning how to talk about my cancer and treatment. When I was getting ready to apply for internships and then jobs in the social work field, I was told by mentors never to tell anyone in my job or internship that I had gone through treatment. Their reasoning was that the employer may think that I was somehow not a good fit for the job because of all that I had gone through and how it could impact my ability to show up for patients while they underwent their own treatment. This caused me to feel a lot of shame about my diagnosis and the person that I had become following treatment. However, in my first year of grad school I did a wonderful internship at a cancer treatment center in Seattle where my supervisor taught me the exact opposite. When I confided in her what I had been told before, she challenged it by asking if I would even want to work at a place where my diagnosis would automatically be thought of as a reason not to employ me.  Out of all my career advice, this is what has stuck with me the most. Having since graduated and focusing on surrounding myself with people who are proud of me and all that I have accomplished has helped me to not feel ashamed. I think that being able to speak openly and candidly about my experience with my friends and family has been one of the main factors in helping me to no longer feel this shame.
    1. If there was any information that you could share to any AYA going through treatment, what would it be and why?
    I recently started listening to a podcast called

AYA Cancer Awareness Week

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Teen Cancer America would like to recognize March 31st through April 6th as Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Awareness Week. We have been joined by organizations across the United States who are supporting their AYAs by spreading awareness and offering support. AYA Cancer Awareness Week focuses on 15 – 39 year olds who are affected by cancer. This week we’ll be discussing the barriers that this age group with cancer faces and what needs to change within the healthcare community in order to better treat our young people. AYAs are our future. We have an obligation to provide them with the best access and high-level of care in age appropriate settings, with targeted treatments, and support delivered by staff who are experienced in working with young people.

Let’s Talk About Isolation

Imagine being in your early 20’s; maybe you’re still in college or have just started your career and/or family. Then you’re given a diagnosis that turns your world upside down and takes you away from the everyday life you know. Not only can this be a traumatic experience for anyone diagnosed, but it can also be isolating to leave your family and friends for a hospital and treatment. Then the treatment experience in and out of the hospital can be even more isolating, as the average age in a pediatric hospital is 6 and the average age in an adult hospital is 60. AYA’s can find themselves alone with no one their own age to connect with. Patients treated outpatient face isolation at home based on their weekend immune system. Generally, the #1 psychosocial issue for young adults is social isolation. Let’s raise awareness through connection and make sure that all AYAs know that there is an entire community out there for them.

Let’s Talk About the Money

New research suggests that young adult cancer survivors are at a higher risk for debt and work-related physical and mental impairment after their treatment. For many survivors, getting cancer treatment has been a matter of “life and debt”. More than 42% of the 9.5 million people diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2012 said they depleted their entire life’s assets in two years, according to an American Journal of Medicine study published last year. Organizations like the Samfund have awarded grants for AYAs in order to help alleviate some of this burden.

Let’s Talk About Fertility

For many AYA’s they haven’t reached the point in life where they are considering family planning. Being forced to face the prospect of infertility because of cancer treatment at such a young age is a frightening and emotional experience. Many hospitals lack resources or experienced professionals to have these conversations at the time of diagnosis so young people aren’t being educated on what could be. The costs of preserving fertility are also outrageousbecause insurance companies in most states are not required to cover this aspect of treatment. These is support out there so make sure to get fully educated on what could and could not be and what it means for other aspects of relationships, sex, and fertility for young people after and during cancer treatment.

Let’s Talk About Low Enrollment in Clinical Trials

AYAs, age 15 – 39, get very aggressive and rare cancers and are 7x more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than anyone under the age of 15 according to the NCI’s SEER data. Although the statistics would point to this age group needing more research and clinical trial access, this demographic is still the lowest in enrollment. There is a major gap in the access to drugs and innovation between AYAs. An 18-year-old lower age limit for adult trials is causing the greatest barrier. There is also a significant delay in the opening of trials for some cancers that affect adolescents, with little improvement in outcomes observed over the last decade. Greater efforts are necessary to improve clinical research for AYAs with cancer.

Let’s Talk About Survivorship

Cancer that affect young people can be debilitating with long term effects that can cause significant health problems throughout their lives. In addition, the psychological effects of cancer at such a young age can cause depression and other psychological challenges that often go unrecognized. Young survivors need long term support, regular screening for known late effects, and emotional support. Make sure that you know what resources are available to you at the time of diagnosis, during treatment, and into survivorship. !

10 Tips For National Cancer Awareness Month

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"." February is National Cancer Prevention Month. While you may be well aware of things you should do to prevent cancer such as; avoiding smoking, wearing sunscreen, and talking to your parents about the HPV vaccination, , there are other measures you can take to live a preventative lifestyle. These 10 suggestions may also help with post cancer treatment.
  1. Drink Filtered Water
The Waterboy once told us that high-quality H2O is essential to overall health. In all seriousness, it is important to make sure that the water you drink is clean and safe. Find out what contaminants are in your tap water by checking the
  • Eat a Rainbow
    • Now… we don’t mean a literal rainbow, that is often associated with Unicorns. However, it’s more likely that when your diet is packed with the nutrients your body needs, the better your chances are to fight off cancer. Load your plate with minimally-processed foods in a plethora of hues with fruits, vegetables, herbs, and whole grains.
    1. Get on Your Feet
     for developing chronic conditions, including cancer
    1. Have a Cup of Coffee or Tea
    Coffee and Tea lovers rejoice!
  • Start Moving
    • Physical activity has been
  • Be Picky about Meat
    • Processed meats, such as hot dogs, bacon (we know… omg) and lunch meat, has been
  • Shed (Just a Few) Pounds
    • If you are overweight or obese, you may be at a higher risk for cancer. The best thing to combat this and lowering your risk, is by exercising to lose a few pounds. Not only will it make a significant difference in your health, but you’ll feel better too! Please take time to
  • Get Vaccinated
    • The human papillomavirus can cause cervical, vaginal, vulvar, anal, and oral cancer. The HPV vaccine can help protect against the virus, especially for AYAs (Adolescents and Young Adults). Another immunization to consider is hepatitis B virus, as a long-lasting hepatitis B virus can cause liver cancer. There’s no question,     was announced in October 2018 that the FDA approved expanded use of the vaccine to include ages 27 through 45 old!
    1. Up Vitamin D Intake
    studies have also shown that overexposure to the sun can lead to different types of skin cancers, such as melanoma. This is especially important for young people!
    1. Chill Out
    While there is no hard proof that stress can cause cancer, chronic stress can weaken your immune system and potentially speed the development of tumors. Find healthy, positive ways to release the strains of daily life, such as spending time with friends and family, going to a yoga class, reading a book or exercising. Check out:

    The Who Announce 2019 USA Tour

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    29 DATES SET FOR SUMMER AND AUTUMN LIVE TREKS

    ICONIC BAND ALSO SET TO RELEASE THEIR FIRST ALBUM OF NEW SONGS IN THIRTEEN YEARS! The band will share the stage with orchestras at marquee venues including Fenway Park, Madison Square Garden and Hollywood Bowl! For Who fans everywhere, the announcement of a brand new tour means only one thing:  the world’s most untameable rock band is about to deliver the goods once again. Never ones for nostalgia, singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend will be unleashing the combustible force that is The Who, with symphonic accompaniment this summer and fall in 2019.  Produced by Live Nation, MOVING ON! TOUR will benefit Teen Cancer America. To join The Who Fan Club and get the opportunity to get some pre-sale tickets, just click on FAN CLUB at the top right of this page. The tour is their first return to the states since their 2017 Las Vegas residency.  That same year they did a limited run of shows following 2016’s rescheduled leg of their acclaimed 50th anniversary celebration.  The band also drew praise for their extended 2012-2013 North American run, a 36 city Quadrophenia tour with the band performing their 1973 rock opera in its entirety. Commenting on what Who fans can expect on the 2019 MOVING ON! tour, Pete Townshend stated: “The Who are touring again in 2019.  Roger christened this tour Moving On! I love it. It is what both of us want to do. Move on, with new music, classic Who music, all performed in new and exciting ways. Taking risks, nothing to lose. Looking forward to seeing you all.  Are you ready?” Commented Roger Daltrey: “Be aware Who fans! Just because it’s The Who with an orchestra, in no way will it compromise the way Pete and I deliver our music. This will be full throttle Who with horns and bells on.” The Who are one of the top three greatest rock legacies in music history.  Their music provoked explosive change and spanned what many critics declare is rock’s most elastic creative spectrum, with Pete Townshend’s songwriting moving between raw, prosaic, conceptual, and expressively literate.  Their visionary sense of stagecraft headed by Roger Daltrey’s soaring vocal prowess is topped off by the band’s blistering rhythm section.  With both Roger and Pete delivering their own memoirs in recent years (Pete’s Who I Am was released to much acclaim in 2012, and Roger’s autobiography, Thanks A Lot Mr Kibblewhite; My Story, was embraced by critics in 2018) it’s fitting that the two remaining Who members have shared their incredible legacy in literary fashion, for few bands have had a more lasting impact on the rock era and the reverberating pop culture than The Who. Emerging in the mid-1960s as a new and incendiary force in rock n’ roll, their brash style and poignant storytelling garnered them one of music’s most passionate followings, with the legendary foursome blazing a searing new template for rock, punk, and everything after. Inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall Of Fame in 1990, the band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, placing 27 top-forty singles in the United States and United Kingdom and earning 17 Top Ten albums, including the 1969 groundbreaking rock opera Tommy, 1971’s pummeling Live At Leeds, 1973’s Quadrophenia and 1978’s Who Are You.  The Who debuted in 1964 with a trio of anthems ‘I Can’t Explain’, ‘The Kids Are Alright’ and ‘My Generation’. Since then they have delivered to the world hits such as ‘Baba O’Riley’, ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, ‘Pinball Wizard’, ‘Who Are You’, and ‘You Better You Bet’. In 2008, they became the first rock band ever to be awarded the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. The Who has performed all over the world including global music events for the Super Bowl XLIV Halftime Show in 2010 and closing the London 2012 Summer Olympics. The Who continued their charity work by playing a concert in January 2011 to raise money for trials of a new cancer treatment called PDT. In December 2012 they performed at the Hurricane Sandy Benefit in New York. In January 2014 they played a set on the US television special to support the charity Stand Up To Cancer. In November 2012 Daltrey, with Townshend at his side, launched Teen Cancer America. The charity is now established in the USA, with offices in Los Angeles and devoted Teen Cancer units being opened in hospitals all over the US TCA’s work has impacted over 5,000 young people and their families nationwide during the last six years.

    Cocktails For Cancer Fundraiser

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    You are warmly invited to attend a fun evening to support a fantastic cause! We’re hosting an exclusive cocktail party to benefit Teen Cancer America, the charity founded by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend. Meet Celebrity chef, cookbook author, and Good News Owner, Carole Peck. Enjoy guitar performance by Daniel Sawyer.
    Good News Restaurant & Bar- the trailblazing farm to table restaurant 694 Main Street South Woodbury, CT 06798
    Teen Cancer survivors and advocates will also be in attendance to explain more about the charity! We will also have great raffle items! You can mtaylor1800@aol.com Thank you so very much for your support!