Staggering number of cancer in younger people gets Yale's attention

Yahoo

07-05-2025

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — The numbers are staggering: people under 50 facing devastating diagnoses. Specifically, colorectal and breast cancers are significantly rising.
In Connecticut, young breast cancer cases are some of the highest in the entire country, 32% above. Is it the environment? The lifestyle of people who live here? Or just a coincidence?
The doctors are working to figure it out as patients and their families deal with news they never expected.
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Amber and Zach Jones spent 14 years making a life in Connecticut. Zach was a rising research star at ESPN. Their young son, Silas, adds to their joy, sharing a love of family, togetherness, and baseball.
Silas lost his father to cancer
'I could do so many different things with him. Our front yard was a football, soccer, baseball, wiffle ball field,' Silas said.
Their family life seemed perfect, but in 2022, their journey took an unexpected turn.
'He had some stomach pains, he thought it was almost like gas,' Amber said.
At just 39 years old, Zach and his family weren't prepared for the shocking diagnosis that would come: stage four cancer that had spread from his colon to his liver.
'It was the wildest, most bizarre experience,' Amber said.
For the next two years, their lives revolved around surgeries and chemotherapy.
'He wanted to do everything he could, he told me I want to make sure silas knows I did everything possible to be here,' she said.
But by the fall of 2024, Zack was too sick to continue treatments. Passing away three days before Christmas at 42.
While heartbreaking, Zach's story is part of a growing trend of cancer in young people…
Dr. Nancy Borstleman, Yale Early Onset Cancer Program co-founder, said, 'They have been appearing largely within breast cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric…'
A trend concerning enough that Yale created a new, 'early onset cancer program' at Smilow Cancer Hospital.
'It's going to take a lot of us putting our heads together to really make some advances in understanding this,' Dr. Veda Giri said.
1 in 29 men were diagnosed with early-onset cancer last year alone. Rates among women, even higher, 1 in 17.
'There's some really fascinating research going on looking at the generational rise of early onset cancers. Looking at Gen X, v. Baby boomers, v. The generation before,' Dr. Veda Giri said.
Research out of Columbia goes even deeper, finding a geographical component when it comes to breast cancer specifically. That study shows Connecticut is one of five states with the highest rates of breast cancer in women under 40.
It found 41 cases per 100-thousand people in our state.
'Such an important question is the why,' Dr. Giri said.
Something Stonington's mother and wife, Meagan Shroder, dealt with firsthand after finding a lump in her breast at just 28. She was not diagnosed until 30, just months after giving birth to a baby boy.
Megan is a cancer survivor.
'When you go into the doctor's offices and you're the youngest one there – it feels very isolating,' she said.
With no family history, Megan, like so many others, wonders why.
'I remember going into the appointments so optimistic and cheerful, like there's no way, I'm too young,' she said.
Meagan found support from the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation, founded by a young Old Saybrook woman who died young from breast cancer.
Meagan, Amber and Silas all share their stories to make others feel less alone.
'Every little thing that can increase your risk, try and get it out,' she said.
And spread a simple message, learned far too soon.
'Cherish the moments you get with them. You're gonna wish you spent as much time with them as possible.
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