Cancer in teens

Cancer is very rare in teens but some types are likely to occur in teens. Testicular cancer, for example, tends to affect younger guys rather than older men.The types of cancers teens get have one thing in common: cells growing in an uncontrolled way. Cells are the basic components or "building blocks" of the human body. Cancer occurs when cells develop abnormally and grow in an uncontrolled way. Below i have listed three of the most common ones.

Osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer. In teens, it can sometimes appear during their growth spurts and tends to show up in people who are taller than average. In most cases, there is no known cause for osteosarcoma.The most common symptoms of osteosarcoma are pain and swelling in an arm or leg that is sometimes accompanied by a lump. Some people have more pain at night or when they exercise. Osteosarcoma is most often found in the bones around the knee but can occur in other bones as well. In some cases, a tumor can spread or metastasize (when cells from a tumor break away from the original cancer site and travel to a different tissue or organ) to the lungs and other bones.
Treatment for osteosarcoma usually involves chemotherapy (medication that kills cancer cells) as well as surgery to remove the tumor. A doctor may perform limb-salvage surgery, where the bone that has cancer is removed and the limb (usually an arm or leg) is saved from amputation by filling the gap with a bone graft or special metal rod. In other cases, a doctor may need to amputate part or all of the limb to fight the cancer.
Most people develop side effects, such as hair loss, bleeding, infections, and heart or skin problems, from medicines used in chemotherapy treatment for osteosarcoma. Chemotherapy may also increase the person's risk of developing other cancers in the future. The good news is that most teens with osteosarcoma do recover.

Ewing's Sarcoma

This is similar to osteosarcoma in that it also affects teens and young adults and is usually located in the leg or pelvis. Most teens with Ewing's sarcoma receive chemotherapy as well as surgery. Some patients will also need radiation in addition to or instead of surgery to make sure that remaining cancer cells have been destroyed. Ewing's sarcoma generally responds well to chemotherapy and radiation.

Leukemia

Leukemia is one of the most common childhood cancers. It occurs when large numbers of abnormal white blood cells called leukemic blasts fill the bone marrow and sometimes enter the bloodstream.
Because these abnormal blood cells are defective, they don't help protect the body against infection the way normal white blood cells do. And because they grow uncontrollably, they take over the bone marrow and interfere with the body's production of other important types of cells in the bloodstream, like red blood cells (which carry oxygen) and platelets (which help blood to clot).
Leukemia causes problems like bleeding, anemia (low numbers of red blood cells), bone pain, and infections. It can also spread to other places like the lymph nodes, liver, spleen, brain, and the testicles in males.