First Descents
This project's parent organization is First Descents
It operates in United States
It uses Surfing
Entered the Sport For Social Inclusion Award
More about First Descents
Each year, more than 70,000 young adults are diagnosed with cancer. While survival rates in both pediatric and geriatric cancer demographics are climbing, the young adult demographic has not seen an improvement since 1975. Treating the disease itself is only part of the battle, and survivorship can prove equally difficult. Young adult survivors must progress through typical stages of growing up all the while carrying the weight of a cancer diagnosis. They face a variety of unique long-term effects that need to be addressed over their lifetimes: re-entry into school or the workforce, insurance coverage, infertility, neuro-cognitive effects, and secondary malignancies. First Descents is committed to serving this population by utilizing outdoor adventure sports as a vehicle to help young adults regain their confidence and rediscover their inner strength.
By facing and conquering seemingly insurmountable challenges in a safe environment, participants are able to break down the walls their cancer built. Surrounded by a group of peers who know exactly what they have been through, First Descents participants are allowed the opportunity to push themselves physically, emotionally, and psychologically, and regain their lost independence. To quote one program attendee, “cancer taught me about death…First Descents taught me how to live.”