ST. LOUIS — Mercy Hospital St. Louis has opened a dedicated treatment space for adolescent and young adult cancer patients, typically ranging in age from 15-30.
The Mercy Cardinals Young Adult Cancer Program provides state-of-the-art medical care while addressing the emotional, financial, education and career disruptions that a cancer diagnosis can cause.
It is the only dedicated adolescent and young adult (AYA) program in the St. Louis area, according to a press release.
“Adolescent and young adult patients diagnosed with cancer face a unique struggle as they are forced to confront their own mortality at a time when their peers are discovering independence and feeling invincible,” said Rob Hanson, Mercy Clinic pediatric hematologist-oncologist and director of the Cardinals Young Adult Cancer Program.
Cancer in this age group is biologically different than the same cancer in older or younger patients, the release stated.
“It was really 20 years ago that we recognized a dramatic difference in results when these patients were treated with pediatric style therapy versus those treated with adult style therapy,” Dr. Hanson said. “Young adults did much better with the pediatric directed regime, which is difficult to administer with complicated and everchanging protocols.”
In order to provide the more complex, pediatric treatments for AYA patients, away from “small children running around or babies crying,” the new space was created for them.
“It seems to be this missed group of people – you have this group in between who aren’t little enough to hug and hold but they’re not adults either to understand what’s going on with them,” said Christi Fletcher, whose son Cole was 17 years old when diagnosed with leukemia. “It was nice that attention was given to the teenage group.”
For more information about the AYA program at Mercy, click here.
