I'm William Brangham and this is Horizons. We tend to think of cancer as a disease that mainly affects older people, but an increasing number of diagnoses are happening amongst the young. What is behind this alarming rise? Can anything be done to prevent it? Coming up next.

Welcome to Horizons from PBS News.

Young people today are getting cancer at higher and higher rates.

While researchers have been studying this for a while, it wasn't until a few years ago that this reality hit home for most of us.

Throw down your weapons and we can handle this another way. That's when Chadwick Boseman,

star of Marvel's Black Panther series, died of colon cancer at just 43 years old.

You're free. You can do whatever you want.

And then, earlier this year, another jarring loss.

James Vanderbeek, star of the hit TV series Dawson's Creek,

was killed at age 48 by the same kind of cancer that took Bozeman. Just a short time before he died,

Vanderbeek spoke publicly about this growing threat. Colorectal cancers are on the rise in younger and

and healthier and healthier people. Colorectal cancers are on the rise in younger and younger and healthier, healthier people.

Colorectal cancer has now become the leading killer of people under the age of 50,

but it's not just that. More than 10 different types of cancer are on the rise among 20 to 50-year-olds,

including breast cancer, kidney cancer, and uterine cancer.

The sharpest rise has been among people in their 20s.

In a few minutes, we're going to talk with some doctors who treat these types of cancers

to understand why these rates are going up and what people can do to protect themselves.

But first, we wanted to hear from someone who

has successfully navigated this awful journey.

Laura Benke is a former TV sports anchor who

lives in California's Bay Area.

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