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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- In the fight against cancer, teenage and young adult patients often find themselves in "no man's land".

Medical communities are unsure of where and how to treat young adult patients. They are usually either lumped in with pediatric care, or adult care, when the patients' needs fit neither. When it comes to cancer, teenagers are a largely ignored age group.

And yet, 72,000 teenagers and young adults in the United States are diagnosed with cancer each year. About 10,000 young adults die of cancer annually.

"The teenage cancers are different than adult cancers," Doctor Praveen Vikas, Oncology Doctor at Ottumwa Regional Center, said. "Most commonly, 30 percent is putting together hematological malignancy, that would include leukemia, which is around 10 percent of malignancy. And then 20 percent of what you see in the teen age is more lymphomas."

Over the past 30 years, cancer in young adults as increased more than any other age group. But survival rates have not improved at the same rate as other age groups, and delayed cancer diagnosis is disproportionately higher in teens and young adults.

"If you think about the teenage psychology, that's the age group when you're no longer a small kid, but you're also not grown up," Dr. Vikas said. "So there's a lot of emotional needs that teens have, but they don't share it with adults. That's the age group you're supposed to be independently functioning and you think you have the power and control and everything, so a lot of the physical signs or symptoms or changes that they could have because of the cancer, they just ignore it."

Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity in the UK that focuses entirely on cancer in young adults, found that over 60 percent of cancer patients aged between 14 and 23 felt they could have been diagnosed earlier. But as of now, there is no "young adult cancer research".

"Zero dollars for cancer research help young adults," Matthew Zachary, of the I'm Too Young for This! Cancer Foundation, said. "There has yet to be any clinical studies or trial that has been shown to truly impact the morbidity and quality of life and survival rates of young adults. The truth is, if you're diagnosed in your twenties and thirties, you're more likely to die than an other age range. And that's not fair."

The I'm Too Young for This! Cancer Foundation is an advocate group that is the voice of young adult cancer patients and survivors. They help with issues ranging from dealing with friends, school, job interviews and health issues cancer survivors face, like fertility. A cancer survivor himself, Zachary urges anyone interested in helping young cancer patients to donate to groups like I'm Too Young for This!, to improve quality of life issues.

So what needs to be done?

Dr. Vikas said he would like to see more emphasis placed on diagnosing and treating young adult patients, and centers opened to specifically treat that age group.

Only progress can stop the stagnating survival rates.

Visit the I'm Too Young for This! Cancer Foundation website 

Are you a young adult cancer patient or survivor? Do you know one? Learn more about this year's summit for cancer survivors.

Donate to the I'm Too Young for This! Cancer Foundation