Overview

As we discover better, less toxic therapies to treat today's kids, future generations of childhood cancer survivors will have fewer late effects. But the hard truth is that the vast majority of the nation's 500,000 childhood cancer survivors today have late effects as a result of their disease or treatment, some of which are chronic and even life-threatening.

According to the National Cancer Institute, the most dangerous late effects - those with the highest risk of early death - are: a recurrence of your primary cancer; the formation of a (different) secondary cancer; and heart and lung damage from treatment.

This section walks through some of these most severe late effects, as well as those that we hear about as top issues of concern among survivors in the Children’s Cancer Cause Annual Survivor Survey.

To go beyond these topics and find information on other late effects - bone health, eye problems, thyroid issues, and more - we recommend several very reputable organizations to take a deeper dive. These resources (see below) provide detailed information on the types of treatment that put you at highest risk for these late effects and what signs and symptoms to watch out for.