Surviving cancer is not enough for young Australians
Published in The Australian on 20 April 2026
When Colbey Alderson was 10, he was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. After 15 rounds of intensive chemotherapy, he went into remission.
However, this was far from the end of Colbey’s cancer journey. Now 23 and working as a nurse, he faces ongoing physical and mental health challenges.
"People think once treatment is over, you're done,” he says. “But nobody tells you about what comes after. The physical limitations, the mental health struggles, the financial burden all continue long after the cancer is gone.”
Colbey is one of around 20,000 Australians living with the lifelong consequences of childhood and adolescent cancer. Like so many others, he must now navigate a fragmented health system with limited assistance.
Comprehensive long-term systemic support for childhood and adolescent cancer survivors should be a national health priority.
Holistic, coordinated, evidence-informed, equitable and sustainable survivorship support does not yet exist at scale in Australia, and delays in addressing this gap will compound risks to vulnerable populations. It’s a hidden health crisis that urgently needs to be addressed.
There are gaps in research evidence about what models of care work best, critical shortfalls in service provision across states and regions, and fragmented efforts that lack coherence and coordination.
Without timely, deliberate investment in new research, innovation, and systemic change, these gaps will inevitably widen as the survivor population continues to grow.
We must ensure that health, education and community care providers can deal with these complex, ongoing needs.
Eight in 10 childhood cancer survivors experience at least one long-term health problem. Their mortality rates are up to 10 times higher than their peers, and globally only two-thirds achieve paid employment.
Chronic physical conditions can include heart disease, secondary cancers, neurocognitive and learning difficulties, mental health issues and illness, poorer social and emotional wellbeing, growth and developmental disorders and fertility impairment.
Many survivors say it feels like “falling off a cliff” when treatment ends. Their families also need more help, as they juggle the ongoing care role with other responsibilities, such as siblings, work, and added financial pressure. Improved funding, pathways and evidence-based models of care would enable survivors to maximise their chances of a fulfilling family, work and social life. They deserve better.
I am Board Chair of a non-profit organisation called Children’s Cancer CoLab, which is leading a national push to ensure survivors have the physical and psychological support they need to thrive.
A position statement on the issue, ‘Surviving Cancer Is Not Enough,’ calls for survivorship to be a core part of every cancer plan, roadmap and research agenda.
It is endorsed by more than 20 national health, research and advocacy organisations, including My Room Children’s Cancer Charity, Children’s Cancer Foundation, Canteen, Royal Children’s Hospital, Leukaemia Foundation, WA Comprehensive Kids Cancer Centre, Kids Research Institute Australia and many more.
Right now, there is no nationally endorsed framework guiding what care Australian survivors should receive, or where they should receive it. Clinicians are doing their best, but families are often left to navigate a fragmented system without knowing where to go or what to ask for.
While international guidelines exist, they don't translate directly to Australia's models of care, funding structures, or geography. Australian-specific research and data are a critical first step.
A family in Broken Hill faces different barriers than one in inner Melbourne. First Nations communities, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and those in regional and remote areas face compounding disadvantages that must be explicitly addressed.
Another challenge we must address is the wide range of lifelong impacts survivors face depending on their age of diagnosis, the cancer they had, and the treatment they endured. Lifelong impacts often overlap and can include psychological trauma, physical disabilities, reduced employability, financial strain, and compounding health issues such as relapse and secondary cancers.
We need to identify where survivors are falling through the cracks across the healthcare system. We also need to build the capability of clinicians to support survivors beyond treatment and ensure that the Australian guidelines developed lead to genuinely accessible services.
It’s great that our health system enables many young people to survive cancer. But we must do better in addressing their ongoing psychological, emotional, social and financial needs.
For Colbey and others, the lasting impacts underline the need for systems that are sustainable, evidence-based, equitable, accessible and culturally safe.
We can and must do better for childhood cancer survivors.
Professor Brendan Murphy AC is Children’s Cancer CoLab Board Chair and former Australian Chief Medical Officer and Secretary of the Department of Health.
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