Resources

Canada

National Programs and Services

Canadian Virtual Hospice
Canadian Virtual Hospice is the most comprehensive online centre in the world on palliative and end of life care loss and grief. It provides information and support to more than 1.8 million people living with a life-limiting illness, their families, health providers, educators and researchers. Virtual Hospice operates  LivingOutLoud.Life, VirtualHospice.ca, Portailpalliatif.ca, MyGrief.ca, LivingMyCulture.ca, Methadone4Pain.ca, KidsGrief.ca and DeuilDesEnfants.ca.
Young Adult Cancer Canada
Every cancer, every stage, YACC's got your back! There are many ways to take part in the YACC community. Connect through our private Facebook group; meet other young adults affected by cancer through our digital, local, and national programs; and read posts and profiles from other young adults who know what it’s like to face cancer in your late teens, 20s, and 30s.
Team Shan
The mission of this organization is to educate the public, health care professionals and young women about early detection, risk factors and prevention of breast cancer. Team Shan is named after Shanna (Shan) Larsen who was only 24 when she lost her life to breast cancer.
Localife
Localife is a fun, local, social activity-based group led by YACCers (Young Adult Cancer Canada) in cities across Canada. We connect over hot wings or at a great event where the conversation isn’t always about cancer, but it’s always welcome to come up.
KidsGrief.ca
KidsGrief.ca is a free online resource that helps parents support their children when someone in their life is dying or has died. It equips parents with the words and confidence to help children grieve life’s losses in healthy ways.
Survive and Thrive
Survive & Thrive Cancer Programs uses adventure expeditions, films, experiential workshops and retreats to encourage and inspire those touched by cancer to live well. We are here to give you a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, help you connect with other cancer survivors who understand, and together create a plan to rebuild your life.
On the Tip of the Toes
On the Tip of the Toes helps young people from Canada living with cancer regain their well-being by facing the challenge of an exceptional therapeutic adventure expedition. We create a situation which aims to rebuild self-esteem and restore hope in life through the challenge and self-transcendence that these therapeutic expeditions allow. Our expeditions are totally free.
Speak Up
Advance Care Planning is a process of reflection and communication. It’s about conversations. It’s about wishes. It’s how we care for each other. It is a time for you to reflect on your values and wishes, and to let people know what kind of health and personal care you would want in the future if you were unable to speak for yourself. Information about advance care planning from all provinces and territories is included on this website.
Rethink Breast Cancer
Rethink Breast Cancer’s mission is to empower young people worldwide who are concerned about and affected by breast cancer through innovative education, support and advocacy.
Testicular Cancer Canada
Testicular cancer could be easily treated if people talked about it a bit more, if we got rid of the taboo, increased awareness, provided more information, and if support was provided to the men who do have it. We cover all those elements.

Provincial Programs and Services

Reports

Adolescents & Young Adults with Cancer: A System Performance Report
Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer face distinct challenges for which specialized and tailored cancer system responses are needed. This report includes indicators focused on AYA cancer care, which are a first step in identifying areas in which interventions could be targeted to improve the cancer journey, experience and outcomes for AYAs.
Palliative and End-of-Life Care: A Cancer System Performance Report.
The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer reports their findings and recommendations on the current state of palliative and end-of-life care in Canada.

United States

Programs and Services

StupidCancer
Stupid Cancer, a nonprofit organization in the United States, is a leader in young adult cancer advocacy, research, and support. We create shared experiences by producing life-changing live events and digital content that end isolation, build community, provide education, and foster meaningful relationships that last a lifetime.
Lacuna Loft
Lacuna Loft is a nonprofit organization providing online support programs to young adult cancer survivors and caregivers. The only organization offering diverse online programs regardless of diagnosis and regardless of where they live. The Young Adult Cancer (YAC) Hangout will bring together young adult cancer survivors and caregivers each month in an informal video hangout where you can chat about anything you’d like.
LIVESTRONG: Adolescents & Young Adults
Live Strong offers online support and resources for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer. They recognize that AYAs have very specific concerns and needs, and they have devoted part of their website, and created resources to help with the significant challenges faced by young people with cancer.
National Cancer Institute
This is the Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer webpage from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health in the United States.
Five WIshes: Advance Care Planning
Five Wishes is changing the way we talk about advance care planning. More than just an advance directive, Five Wishes brings a holistic approach to a living will by including an individual’s care and comfort choices. Voicing my choices is the specific planning guide for adolescents and young adults living with a serious illness to communicate their health care preferences.

Reports

Closing the Gap: Research and Care Imperatives for Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer
This report from the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Progress Review Group (PRG) is a collaborative effort between National Cancer Institute and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. It outlines recommendations for improving the outcomes for adolescents and young adults with cancer.

Australia

Programs and Services

CanTeen
CanTeen helps young people cope with cancer in their family, including those who have been diagnosed themselves. Through CanTeen, you can connect with other young people in the same boat and connect with specialist, youth-specific treatment teams.
LiveWire
When you’re a teen living with a serious or chronic illness, or a disability, it can be hard – and let’s face it, sometimes people just won’t get what you are dealing with! That’s why we created Livewire: a place for people like you.

Reports

National Service Delivery Framework for Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer
The National Service Delivery Framework for Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer provides a national framework for quality local cancer care for adolescents and young adults.
WA Cancer and Palliative Care Network Paediatric and Adolescent Palliative Care Model of Care
The WA Cancer and Palliative Care Network’s Palliative Care Model of Care is the over arching Model of Care for palliative care in Western Australia (WA).

United Kingdom

Programs and Services

Together for Short Lives
We want to help every child and family living with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition get the very best care and support they can so they can make the most of every moment together. We are the UK charity for children’s palliative care.
Teenage Cancer Trust
We create world-class cancer services for young people in the UK, providing life-changing care and support so young people don’t have to face cancer alone.

Teenagers and Young Adults with Cancer
We recognise that teenagers and young adults (ages 13-24) have different and specific needs. This is why we work tirelessly to make sure that every teenager and young adult with cancer is treated and cared for in a sensitive and age-appropriate way with the right to fast diagnosis and best treatment, no matter where they live.

Willow: Special days for seriously ill young adults
Willow is the only national (UK) charity working with seriously ill young adults aged 16 to 40 to fulfil uplifting and unforgettable Special Days.

Reports

Palliative Care for Young People Aged 13 – 24
The period of time between childhood and becoming a fully independent adult can be a challenging one for both those growing through teenage years and their carers. The addition of a life-limiting illness adds a complexity that hardly bears thinking about. This report provides a guide to what can and should be done to help the ‘in between’ group.

Making a difference for young adult patients: Research briefing
This briefing presents key findings from a national study (the STEPP project) on health care transitions for young adults with significant, and potentially life-limiting, conditions.

State of the Nations Report: Terminal Illness Care in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
This review will aid understanding of what drives care and how and why provision may be different across the four nations of the UK.

Ireland

Programs and Services

Canteen Ireland
CanTeen Ireland is a nationwide support group for young people between the ages of 12 and 25 years who have or have had cancer.
The Palliative Hub: Children and Young People
This website is for parents, carers and those involved in the care of a child or young person with a palliative care need in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
YouCan Ireland
We're a nationwide support system for young adults with cancer, to advocate for consistent and age appropriate respectful care that supports young adults with a cancer diagnosis.

Books

This Should Not Be Happening: Young Adults With Cancerby Anne Katz
This book provides guidance for young adults who are living with cancer. Based on interviews with 20 survivors from across North America, this book tells of their challenges and experiences but also provides evidence-based suggestions for living with and dying of cancer when much too young.
Women Cancer Sex by Anne Katz
Treatment for cancer is a physical and emotional roller coaster for many women and when it is over, these women want life to go back to normal. But will it? This book is written as a self-help guide for women with cancer.
Men Cancer Sex
by Anne Katz

When a man gets cancer, any kind of cancer, the treatments he receives may result in changes in his sexuality. From altered body image to loss of sexual desire or ability to become and stay aroused, these changes often affect his masculinity, resulting in distress and sometimes even relationship breakdown. This book describes these changes through the stories of men of all ages with different kinds of cancer.
Sex When You’re Sickby Anne Katz
Sexuality experts around the world agree that sexuality is an important part of quality of life. This book has two sections. In the first the basics of human sexuality are described: how things work and how we grow as sexual beings across the lifespan. The second section describes different illnesses and how they alter or threaten sexuality.
In-Between Days: A Memoir About Living with Cancerby Teva Harrison
Teva Harrison was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at the age of 37. In this brilliant and inspiring graphic memoir, she documents through comic illustration and short personal essays what it means to live with the disease.
When Breath Becomes Airby Paul Kalanithi
When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.
Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Lovedby Kate Bowler
Frank and funny, dark and wise, Kate Bowler pulls the reader deeply into her life in an account she populates affectionately with a colorful, often hilarious retinue of friends, mega-church preachers, relatives, and doctors. Everything Happens for a Reason tells her story, offering up her irreverent, hard-won observations on dying and the ways it has taught her to live.
The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dyingby Nina Riggs
An exquisite memoir about how to live—and love—every day with “death in the room,” from poet Nina Riggs, mother of two young sons and the direct descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson.