Chapter 2: Supporting Adjustment and Identity Development in Diverse Youth With Cancer: A Case of Osteosarcoma

Each year more than 17,000 children (up to age 19) are diagnosed with cancer in the United States alone, with trends in diagnosis increasing since the early 1990s (United States Environmental Protection Agency, n.d.). Cancer is characterized by the abnormal growth and mutation of the body’s previously healthy cells which then invade surrounding areas and can spread to other parts of the body. The most common cancers for children are leukemia (cancer of blood forming cells), brain and central nervous system cancer (abnormal tissue within the brain or spinal cord), or lymphoma and reticuloendothelial neoplasms (cancers primarily involving the lymphatic system) which, in total, account for 64% of diagnoses (Natioal Cancer Institute, 2021). The cause of cancer in children is still largely unknown, though researchers have identified genetic mutations (i.e., a change to one or more genes within a cell) as a contributor. There are two types of genetic mutations associated with pediatric cancer: germline (i.e., a hereditary mutation passed on through sperm or egg) or somatic (a mutation that is acquired at some point after fertilization). Pediatric cancers are more frequently associated with germline than somatic mutations (Sweet-Cordero & Biegel, 2019).