Author(s): Heidi Schultz Adams & Christopher Schultz

Cancer

Each year, some 70,000 younger adults between the ages of 18 and 40 are diagnosed with cancer. While there are many sources of information to which patients can turn, most organizations are geared to either children or older adults, and the special needs and concerns of this target age group are rarely discussed. One of the only resources at their disposal is the remarkable website PlanetCancer.com. For nearly a decade, this has been where those in this "gap" age can find resources, networks, and the kind of support from those who have been there and done that. With more than 20,000 unique visitors a month, PlanetCancer.com has direct access to, and experience with, this targeted community, as well as an online social network of more 3,500 active young adult users around the world. This book gives its readers an honest, down-to-earth guide to living in this new world, informed by Planet Cancer's voice--authoritative, funny, friendly, no-nonsense. Issues are addressed from all sides by experts: those who are experts through personal experience; organizational experts such as the Patient Advocate Foundation; and medical cancer experts including nurses and oncologists. The book also includes deeply personal and unflinching essays designed to give the uninitiated the sense of actually being there and remove some of the mystery and fear of the unknown.