Each year, nearly 20,000 adolescents and young adults are diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma. When facing cancer, this age group often confronts different personal, psychosocial and medical challenges than younger children and older adults with the same diagnosis. That’s why the University of Chicago Medicine created the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology Program — a collaborative program offering coordinated care for young adults ages 15-30 with leukemia or lymphoma.
We help adolescents and young adults take an active role in their care, to navigate the medical system as well as to understand and make decisions regarding their treatments. Our cancer specialists have the clinical experience, the scientific knowledge, and the resources to determine which treatment protocol offers the most effective therapy to meet each patient’s unique needs. In fact, research conducted by University of Chicago scientists led to improvements in the way that adolescents and young adults throughout the world are being treated for leukemia and other cancers.
“Everyone in Comer’s young adult program—from the doctors to the nurses, to the food staff to the cleaning people—is outstanding. I had such a bad attitude and asked ‘Why me?’ I was upset, but it seemed like the more I got beyond it, the more positive I became, and there was always someone to talk to and the doctors would always call you back.”
