You gave Gabrielle Fecteau, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at 19, a community she so badly needed and couldn’t find. Thank you!
“I spent a long time trying to get my family and friends to get me—the new me. It never worked. They couldn’t know what I was going through in the way I needed them to. When I connected with YACC, I found a community of people who get me and to whom I don’t need to explain myself. These unique and special individuals have changed my life.”
The power of connection is one of the many questions we had as we built the YAC Prime Study with Dr. Sheila Garland. Does being in connection with other young adults who “get it” matter? If so, how?
YACC’s program director Karine, Sheila, and I created a beautiful partnership that produced the YAC Prime Study. We’ve recruited 622 young adults to share their stories to incite change for them and their cancer peers. The YAC Prime research team has experts from Memorial University of Newfoundland, the University of Toronto, the University of Calgary, Rutgers, and Harvard who have begun the awesome task of analyzing the data.
The power of connection is highlighted in the latest findings from the first-of-its-kind study as we shine a spotlight on the darkness surrounding mental, social, and financial challenges facing young adults dealing with cancer. You can see the news release highlighting the study findings here.
Latest YAC Prime findings:
• 49 per cent of young adults were off work for 1-3+ years.
• 47 per cent of young adults experienced significant symptoms of depression or anxiety.
• Feelings of connection to the young adult cancer community really matter, especially for those with the lowest social support who experience post-traumatic growth at four times the rate of those who don’t feel connected.
Today we will begin presenting these findings and more from the YAC Prime Study at the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) conference. We’re putting the spotlight on the unique and intense challenges facing young adults with cancer.
Every day a new “Gabrielle” connects with YACC and we hear the stories of financial strain and see the impact of cancer on mental health, the presence of cancer recurrence fear, and the prominence of depression and anxiety.
Your support of YACC gives these young adults the place to go where they feel loved, understood, and supported, and it powers the YAC Prime Study and YACC to incite change for the 200,000 Canadians living with or beyond their diagnosis of cancer as a young adult.
On their behalf, deep gratitude for having their backs.
Always…
Live life. Love life.
Geoff
Follow #YACPrime this week for all the highlights!
