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Inside Health

Are more young people getting cancer?

Inside Health

BBC

Health & Fitness, Science

4.4575 Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last month, Catherine, Princess of Wales shared she’d been diagnosed with cancer. Describing this news as ‘a huge shock’ and at age just 42, the Princess’ disease falls into a category known as “early-onset cancer” – when the disease affects those under 50. While cases in this age group are still rare, diagnosis rates over the past few years have been growing. And scientists are now on a mission to figure out why.

Receiving a cancer diagnosis at any age is devastating, but younger people living with the disease face additional challenges. James Gallagher talks to Emma Campbell, a mum of three young children who was diagnosed with bowel cancer at 36. Emma shares not just how her treatment affected her life, but the difficulties in advocating for herself as a younger person trying to get diagnosed. Professor Helen Coleman, cancer epidemiologist for Queens University Belfast, has been studying these diagnostic rates in younger people and explains possible reasons why more people like Emma are finding themselves living with the disease.

A series of videos recently went viral on social media from women claiming their weight loss drugs got them pregnant. These drugs – like Ozempic and Wegovy – help people lose weight by suppressing appetite, but could they impact fertility? James speaks to Dr Charlotte Moffett, lecturer in Pharmacology and Molecular Pathology at the University of Ulster, who is studying if these drugs might alter someone's ability to conceive. James is also joined in the studio by GP, Dr Margaret McCartney, who helps him answer some of your questions.

Presenter: James Gallagher Producer: Julia Ravey Content Editor: Holly Squire Production Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy

TikTok credits: @Dkalsolive | @anastasiamalhotra | @coachkatierogers

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast,

0:05.4

The Traitors Uncloaked. But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's

0:10.6

Saturday bonus episodes, the Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Ryland, and comedy specials

0:16.2

from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Rommas Shranger Nathan. However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncloked.

0:24.3

So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds.

0:29.4

Hello there and welcome to the Inside Health podcast. I'm James Gallagher.

0:32.8

I'm sure you'll all remember this story about the Princess of Wales in March.

0:36.9

The surgery was successful.

0:39.0

However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present.

0:43.0

This, of course, came as a huge shock.

0:45.4

And William and I have been doing everything we can

0:47.4

to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.

0:51.9

Catherine's just 42 years old.

0:54.4

Now you can get cancer at any age,

0:56.2

but a diagnosis that young,

0:58.4

to me it always still feels like a bit of a shock.

1:01.2

And yet, if you do look at the data,

1:03.3

more young adults seem to be getting cancer than ever before.

1:07.3

So on this program,

1:08.3

we're going to be digging into the reasons why.

1:11.4

And then later, we'll also be looking at the phenomenon of a Zempic babies as women are getting unexpectedly pregnant while taking weight loss injections and helping us navigate all of it.

1:22.8

Our resident GP, Dr Margaret McCartney's here.

...

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