Cancer is a lot of things, but it’s not your fault.
Cancer itself is pretty common – around 1 in 2 people in the UK will get it at some point during their lives. But cancer in young people is much rarer, with less than 1% of all cancer cases each year affecting 13-24-year-olds.
We are learning more all the time, but often we don’t know exactly why one person gets cancer and another doesn’t.
Maybe you’re worried about things you’ve done, like smoking or drinking or taking drugs. These things do have links to cancer, but there’s almost no chance of them causing cancer in young people.
Spending too much time in the sun can put you at risk. So can having unprotected sex, as the HPV virus can be passed on, which can be linked to some forms of cancer.
There are some things that can increase the risk of getting cancer, known as ‘risk factors’. But even though it’s really unfair, cancer can just happen for no obvious reason.