CHILD & TEENAGE CANCER IS A FACT AND PARENTS, TEENAGERS & YOUNG ADULTS NEED TO BE AWARE OF THESE CANCERS & THEIR SIGNS & SYMPTOMS
There are some 220 cancers that affect children. The most common cancers are detailed below. More information can be found by clicking on the individual headings.
Tumours of the brain and spinal cord account for 25% of all cancers in children and are now the leading cause of death in childhood cancer.
DIPG
A Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) is a tumor located in the pons (middle) of the brain stem. The brain stem is the bottom most portion of the brain, connecting the cerebrum with the spinal cord
Another type of cancer that affects the bone is Ewing’s sarcoma. It is similar to osteosarcoma in that it also affects teens and young adults and is usually located in the leg or pelvis.
Hodgkin’s disease usually occurs in adolescents and young adults. It can show up in lymph nodes in the neck, armpits, chest, or other places.
Leukaemia is a cancer of the blood and is the most common cancer in children, accounting for one third of cases.
Most children who get this cancer are younger than five years old. Neuroblastoma is the second most common solid tumour in childhood and makes up 8% of the total number of children’s cancers.
Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer and can sometimes appear during growth spurts – more common in boys than girls
About 40 cases of retinoblastoma are diagnosed in the UK each year. Most of these occur in children under the age of five, although it can affect children of any age. Retinoblastoma is a tumour that occurs in the retina. This is the light-sensitive lining of the eye.
Testicular cancer tends to affect younger guys rather than older men and is the most common cancer in males aged 15 – 35.
Soft tissue sarcomas that mostly occur in infants, children and teens. Cancer cells grow in the soft tissues of the skeletal muscles though these cancers can occur anywhere in the body.
About 70 children develop a Wilms’ tumour in the UK each year. It most often affects children below the age of five. It is a type of kidney cancer.
