The mission of Healthy Young Attitude is to provide support and the sharing of ideas to young adults who are dealing with the physical and psychological effects of cancer diagnosis, treatment and recovery.

HYA began with "Mom Ann's" inspiration. Her son Peter, diagnosed with melenoma, would never have been in a support group with the old fogeys. Mom Ann thought that Peter would have enjoyed hanging out and chatting with people his own age who were dealing with cancer. From this vision, with help from the San Jose chapter of the American Cancer Society and a few cancer veterans that happened to be the right age and care enough to agree to help, a healthy young group was founded in April of '97 in Silicon Valley.

Since cancer in our age group is relatively rare, and people who actually like to talk about their feelings and will seek out a support group is even more rare, connecting via the net makes sense. Our web page is a place to find each other, build comraderie, get hooked up with resources, learn a thing or two, share our dirt, blow off steam, get inspired... We hope to give you a lot, but we are no substitute for real-life friends, family, or a good therapist. Also, we are not doctors and we do not provide medical or technical information about different types of cancer.

So you or somebody you know has been diagnosed with cancer? It's tough. We know. If you want to hear from other people who have been there, we would like to help.

What will you find here?
You can find out about HYA (and other's) News & Events. You can Get Practical and research Internet resources, Good Reads and get answers to Frequently Asked Questions (Especially For Young Adults), answered by us, ie you!

In Stories from the Trenches you can read what other HYA friends have experienced - from sad to confusing to absurd to hilarious. Want to see what some of us look like? Check out the HYA Family Album. Are you supporting a person with cancer? Or want to give your supporters some ideas about what works and what doesn't? Go to Support for Supporters for tips and resources.

If you are a local, like to drive long distances, or have frequent flyer miles to burn, then come join us at our meetings! Dates change from time to time, but we meet once a month from 7 to 9 pm, usually Wednesday at:

At 10054 Pasadena Ave. Cupertino, CA
Email us at "hyaadmin at verizon dot net" for an update or call our message line.

Having a healthy young attitude, it might just happen that we change our meeting dates or have special get togethers, so call our Message Line before you join us.

Our Message Line is 1-408-871-1062, option 3, extension 134
After hours or without an operator, call 408 688-0100, extension 134.

If you prefer snail mail, you can write us at

Healthy Young Attitude
c/o ACS
747 Camden Ave
Campbell, CA 95008