When cancer turns your life upside down
Carsten Witte was 24 when he got his cancer diagnosis: Bone cancer in his left arm. For him, the diagnosis was a turning point. He abandoned his career with the German Army and enrolled at a university to study Health Education. And motivated by his own experience as a patient, he also established the association “Jung und Krebs e.V.” (= Young and Cancer).
He found that young people with cancer often feel neglected and left to fend for themselves, because the healthcare system doesn’t provide a contact person to answer their questions and concerns. With this in mind, the Jung und Krebs e.V. association serves as a resource to help these patients develop a new outlook by interacting with others in the same situation.
Carsten Witte works as psycho-oncologist at the local radiation therapy center in Freiburg.
A cancer diagnosis is a traumatic experience for every patient, but the actual effects differ from one individual to another and also depend on their age. Along with uncertainty about their health condition, young cancer patients are confronted with a situation where their whole perspective on life is put into question – from their education and career all the way to family planning. Under these difficult circumstances, they need special kinds of information and support.
The Jung und Krebs e.V. association shows the major impact that practical knowledge can have for patients dealing with serious illnesses. The association was launched by Carsten Witte, whose own experience as a cancer patient has inspired him to help others and to pass along what he knows about dealing with the disease.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, the average age at which cancer is detected in Germany is 69-70 years.¹ But this doesn’t mean that cancer affects only elderly people. Every year, 16,500 women and men in Germany between the age of 18 and 39 develop cancer.²
[1]: Robert-Koch-Institut
[2]: Deutsche Stiftung für junge Erwachsene mit Krebs (German Foundation for Young Adults with Cancer)
