Young people surviving cancerYoung people surviving cancer
All In The Mind
When you are young the last thing you expect is to be diagnosed with cancer and have to face your own mortality. Psychologists are working on ways to support young adults through their diagnosis, treatment and life post treatment.
28:52•20 Aug 2017
Young Adults, Cancer and the New Normal: Coping, Community and Scars
Episode Overview
- Cancer in adolescence and young adulthood collides with identity formation, independence and relationships, increasing vulnerability to anxiety and depression.
- Distress often intensifies after treatment ends, when routines stop and there is time to process what has happened and what was missed.
- Online group programmes like Recapture Life can reduce distress by combining coping strategies with connection to peers who "get it".
- Addressing body image and scars directly, rather than avoiding them, can help shift shame towards acceptance and even pride.
- Learning assertiveness and other life skills after a long period in hospital can support a stronger, more confident "new normal".
“"I think I will always be the person who's had cancer... but yeah, I can feel myself becoming more and more what they say the new normal."”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This time the focus shifts to young people facing something just as life-altering: cancer. The episode follows the experiences of Serena Wetherill and Jasmine Gaylor, both diagnosed in their early twenties, at a stage of life that’s usually about freedom, friendships and future plans, not hospital wards and chemotherapy.
Serena shares how she went from being a "fit and healthy and beautiful" 23-year-old actor to feeling like a "green jelly bean" during treatment, putting on a brave front while carrying deep trauma underneath. Jasmine talks about her osteosarcoma diagnosis, the anger, shame and embarrassment she felt, and the intense discomfort around the large scar on her leg and her changed body. Clinical psychologist and researcher Ursula Sansom-Daly explains why cancer in adolescence and young adulthood hits so hard.
It arrives just as people are forming identities, building independence and navigating relationships, and it collides with a peak time for anxiety and depression. She notes that distress can actually increase after treatment finishes, when the busy routine of chemo and appointments stops and there’s finally space to absorb what’s happened.
Ursula describes Recapture Life, a six-week online group programme using video conferencing where young cancer survivors meet with a psychologist and each other to work on coping skills, reconnecting with friends, managing fear of recurrence and rebuilding a sense of future. Both Serena and Jasmine say the programme gave them community, no-judgement support and practical tools such as assertiveness skills they still use.
Jasmine also shares how confronting her scar, photographing it and turning that idea into the Scar Stories project helped her feel "liberated" and a bit "special" again. The episode closes with a mix of realism and hope: cancer may always be part of their story, but so is resilience, creativity and the "new normal" they’ve built. If you or someone you care about is facing a life-changing diagnosis, could these voices offer some comfort and direction?
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