Global cancer cases rise at alarmingly high rate – why are so many young women getting deadly disease?

A month before her 21st birthday, Amy Clark was given the earth-shattering news that she had stage four lung cancer.

It was a moment Amy, now 26, describes as: “Like having an out-of-body experience,” so shocking was the diagnosis.

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“I couldn’t really process what the nurse had told me. I had lung cancer that had spread to my rib and lymph nodes. It felt totally surreal,” she says.

Five years on, thanks to ongoing treatment, Amy lives a full and relatively normal life, working in insurance in North Somerset.

However, her experience of developing cancer at such a young age is, worryingly, no longer so unusual.

Young people like Amy are being diagnosed with cancer at an alarmingly high rate.

While it is a disease that typically strikes later in life, more and more young women and men are being diagnosed in their prime.

Globally, diagnosis and deaths related to early-onset cancers – meaning those affecting people below the age of 50 – rose by 79% and 28% respectively, between 1990 and 2019.*

And according to Cancer Research UK, the increase in cases among those aged 25-49 in the UK is more than double the rise in over-75s, with cancers of the digestive system, skin and breast most common in younger people.

High-profile women, including the Princess of Wales, 43, Strictly‘s Amy Dowden, 34, and comedian Katherine Ryan, 41, have all been diagnosed with cancer in the past two years, and by bravely going public they’ve brought a lot of attention to the fact that, increasingly, age guarantees no protection against cancer.

Before her death at the age of 40 in June 2022, bowel cancer campaigner and The Sun columnist, Dame Deborah James, worked tirelessly to highlight that cancer impacts younger people too, after her own symptoms were dismissed.

“Deborah was passionate about awareness of bowel cancer symptoms and early diagnosis, because being diagnosed in the earliest stages means you have a much better outcome,” says her mum Heather.

“You know your body better than anyone, so if something doesn’t feel right, get it checked. She often said that if she could save one life, all the effort would be worth it.”

For Amy, a diagnosis came completely unexpectedly, following investigations into an old injury.

“After a fall in 2016, I’d experienced lower-back pain on and off for a few years, and in May 2019 I saw an orthopaedic consultant about it.

"An X-ray and PET scan revealed I had a badly healed old rib fracture, which explained the pain. But it also showed a 3mm lesion in my right lung,” says Amy.

“I was referred to a respiratory consultant, who said he didn’t usually see this sort of lesion in someone my age – they were more associated with older people who’d been long-term smokers.

"It was agreed I’d have another scan the following year, but he didn’t seem concerned, so nor was I. Lung cancer never even crossed my mind.”

In February 2020, a second scan showed that whatever was in Amy’s lung was now also in her lymph nodes.

She was referred for a bronchoscopy, which enables doctors to look at the lungs and air passages using a thin tube with a camera, and perform a biopsy.

“It wasn’t until I was actually on the trolley, going into theatre in March 2020, that someone said the word ‘cancer’ to me.

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"I was so shocked – it hadn’t been on my radar at all. I was 20, in a happy relationship with my boyfriend Danny, 25, working and socialising, like any young woman.

"I felt fit and well, with no symptoms of anything untoward.”

The following month, Amy received her diagnosis.

“Not only did I have cancer, but it had spread, meaning it was now stage four. It was a devastating moment – my memories of it are hazy, because I was immediately plunged into a state of shock.

"But I remember my mum Jan crying. I didn’t think about myself, but about how this was going to impact my family and Danny.

“I didn’t ask what my prognosis was, as I didn’t want to hear my life reduced to a countdown.”

Between April 2020 and May 2023, Amy – who went on to learn she had a relatively rare form of lung cancer called ALK positive, which affects 3-5% of lung cancer patients – began oral targeted therapy, as well as 20 rounds of radiotherapy to shrink her tumours.

“Emotionally, it took a long time to come to terms with my diagnosis. It felt totally at odds with the fact I was just 21, with so many plans for my future.

"I still felt like ‘me’ and I had no cancer symptoms, though I experienced side effects from the treatment, including highly sensitive skin and an internal burning sensation, which were tough to cope with.

“Danny, an engineer who I’d met on a night out with friends and started dating in 2018, was my rock, as were my family.

"But nobody that age ever expects to have to tell the people they love that they have stage four cancer and be supported by them.”

In January 2023, Amy, who lives with her parents, was told she’d had a “complete response” to treatment, meaning there was no evidence of cancer in her body.

She was able to return to work and get back to her passions of hiking, attending music festivals and seeing friends. However, that March, a scan revealed cancer in Amy’s hip area, and she needed more radiotherapy.

“That was the hardest time, emotionally, even worse than receiving my diagnosis,” she says. “I kept thinking – is this my life now, in and out of treatment, waiting for the cancer to appear in another part of my body?”

Amy is now having regular scans, alongside medication, and she takes huge strength from her relationship.

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“Danny has never wavered in his support, lifting my spirits on days when I’ve felt overwhelmed,” says Amy.

“We don’t shy away from talking about cancer, but we talk about our future, too, and are planning to move in together next year.”

There are countless theories swirling among the medical community about why rates of early-onset cancer are on the rise.

These range from people having more exposure to artificial light, modern diets of ultra-processed foods, red meat and alcohol, as well as obesity, poor gut health and microplastics in food and water supplies.

Research published by Cancer Research UK last month pointed to a possible link between bowel cancer in under-50s and childhood exposure to a toxin produced by E. coli.

Dr Rachel Orritt from the charity says that, although around nine in 10 cancer cases still happen in people over 50, early-onset cancers are a growing cause for concern.

“We don’t know what’s causing early onset cancer. Preventable factors like changing diets and higher rates of obesity, as well as improvements to early detection, could all be playing a part.

"But it’s vital we have more research to understand the causes, so we know how to prevent it,” she says.

Like Amy, Ellie Stacey was left in shock after being diagnosed with a rare but extremely aggressive form of ovarian cancer at 32, in March 2023, after experiencing stomach pain, bloating and pain down one side of her chest.

Tests revealed she had stage 3C ovarian carcinosarcoma, which typically affects women aged over 60. She was told by doctors that, although her cancer was incurable, it could be treated.

“I was convinced I was going to die, beside myself with anxiety. It was like a nightmare.

It’s not uncommon to feel untethered: caught between a life you were expecting and the reality you’re suddenly living in.

Dr Zainab Noor

"My boyfriend Andrew, 35, who’s a radiographer, was with me and was able to hold it together, while I was a mess,” says Ellie, now 34 and an ecologist, from Glasgow.

“My grandmother died from ovarian cancer in her 80s, and the thought of having to tell my mum I had it, too – in my 30s – was so painful.”

Ellie has now had her fallopian tubes and ovaries removed, undergone eight rounds of chemotherapy, a hysterectomy, and had a cancerous growth attached to her liver removed.

Currently, she’s having maintenance IV chemotherapy infusions and oral targeted therapy, along with regular scans. She’s had to come to terms with the realisation that she will never carry a child.

“It wasn’t possible to freeze my eggs before my ovaries were removed, because by then they were covered in tumours, and now I have no womb either.

"I have felt angry – I’d worked so hard to get to the point I wanted to in my career, assuming I’d have children at some point in the future, never imagining the choice would be taken away from me.”

Having cancer so young has meant Ellie’s life in the last few years has been in stark contrast to that of friends the same age.

“They’ve been getting on with their lives – excelling in careers, starting families – and although they’ve been so supportive, it’s hard when my life hasn’t been ‘normal’ for two years.”

Dr Zainab Noor, a specialist clinical psychologist at the Cancer Psychology Collective says: “Receiving a cancer diagnosis at a young age not only interrupts the normal momentum of life, but also forces a confrontation with mortality at a time when life is meant to feel limitless.

“It’s not uncommon to feel untethered: caught between a life you were expecting and the reality you’re suddenly living in. I call this ‘emotional whiplash.’”

For Ellie, one of the hardest parts about being a young cancer patient has been the uncertainty about the future. “My career has stalled,” she says.

“I’m only able to work 12 hours on a good week, due to fatigue, and my memory and concentration are poor now.

“I get incredibly frustrated, because I feel I should be living the hell out of life, but I can’t manage more than one or two things socially in a week,” adds Ellie.

“Andrew and I are lucky to have such great friends, some of whom can’t have children, and it’s been helpful to talk to them.

"Well-meaning people have told us we could still have a family via adoption. But when one parent has incurable cancer and may die younger, is that fair on a child?”

Ellie has forged connections with other young cancer patients via the charity Maggie’s which, she says, has been invaluable.

“There are certain things that, no matter how understanding your friends are, people can’t understand unless they’ve been where you are.

"Throughout, Andrew has been incredibly supportive. He’s had a lot to deal with and I do worry it will hit him one day.

"But if I’m having a down day or feeling guilty about us not being able to have children, he reassures me it’s me he wants to be with.”

Ellie’s cancer has a high recurrence rate, although her latest scans showed that her condition is stable.

“People think that with cancer you either die or get better, but that’s always not the case,” she says. “For me, it’s always going to be there and I’ve just got to try and live my life the best I can.”

Amy still encounters shock when she reveals to people her diagnosis, but she counters it with hope and belief in medicine.

“When I meet new people and they learn I have stage four cancer, they’re so shocked, and I get that.

"Nobody expects to hear that from a 20-something woman who looks completely well. Their mind turns to the absolute worst outcome,” she says.

“Last year, my mum co-founded the charity Oncogene Cancer Research, and she’s thrown herself into not only understanding my condition, but supporting patients and fund-raising for research.

“Through her work, I know research is happening and medicine is always evolving, so I try to remain confident that treatment will keep working for me, so I can live a long and full life.

“To this day, I’ve never asked what my prognosis is and I have no plans to. I am looking to, and planning for, my future.”

For more details about the charity, visit Oncogeneresearch.org.