What is cancer?

Your body is made up of millions of cells. They do different jobs and behave in different ways. All these cells divide to create new healthy cells.

Cancer happens when an abnormal cell is produced. These cancer cells divide and grow quicker than normal cells. And if they are not treated, these cells can cause a large lump or maybe even spread to other parts of the body.

The abnormal cells can occur as:

Solid cancers – when a lump, or tumour,  forms -  for example on the bone, or in the brain
Leukaemias or lymphomas – when the blood cells divide and multiply abnormally

Cancer is an old persons’ disease, right?

Clearly not. Cancer isn’t just one disease, but lots of diseases that affect children, young people and adults.

But the cancers in younger people are different to adults. They behave differently and tend to respond more positively to treatment. So don’t let people compare your cancer to their elderly aunt’s.

The most common cancers in the 16-25 age group are:

• Hodgkin's lymphoma
• Testicular cancer
• Melanoma of skin
• Brain tumour/central nervous system
• Leukaemia
• Cervical cancer
• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
• Breast cancer
• Thyroid cancer
• Bone cancer

The most comon cancers in children under 16 are:

• Leukaemia
• Brain tumours
• Neuroblastoma
• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
• Wilm's tumour
• Rhabdomyosarcoma
• Hodgkin's lymphoma
• Germ cell tumours
• Osteosarcoma
• Ewings sarcoma

Further information about the types of cancer can be found in our 'About Childhood Cancer' section, which is part of the main CLIC Sargent website. Click here to visit these pages.