Dylan Kurtz turned 16 on the same day his father Jonathan started chemotherapy for stage 3 colon cancer.
That was 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it marked the beginning of a stretch in which Kurtz would take on responsibilities far beyond what most teenagers face. His father's treatment left him immunocompromised, which meant the family had to radically change their routines to keep outside germs out of the house. Runs outside with his dad gave way to quiet time at home. Trips to professional baseball games became evenings working on 1,000-piece puzzles of different stadiums. Several of those finished puzzles now hang in Kurtz's room and his father's office.
"I was really sad because all these things that I love to do with my dad tend to be very physically active or involve going places," Kurtz, now 22, told Healthline. "But I handled it by finding workarounds."
Beyond adapting his time with his father, Kurtz also took on cooking, cleaning, and helping care for his older brother Steven, who has autism. When all summer camps were canceled in 2020, he created what he called "Camp Kurtz," organizing activities at home to keep Steven engaged through the summer. Kurtz recalled not knowing much about colon cancer when his father was first diagnosed. "I knew of different types of cancer but didn't really know anything about what it meant for the person diagnosed, other than that it can be deadly if it's caught late," he said. His father walked him through what to expect, explaining the radiation and chemotherapy ahead, and that conversation helped him grasp the seriousness of what the family was facing.
Marianne Pearson, vice president of Cancer Care at the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, said that kind of honest, age-appropriate communication matters when a parent is diagnosed. "Explaining treatments like chemotherapy or radiation and even visiting the cancer center can help reduce fear, while support from oncology-trained professionals can help children feel safer and more secure," she told Healthline.
Colorectal cancer is increasingly being diagnosed in adults under 50, which means more children and teenagers are likely to find themselves in circumstances similar to Kurtz's. Rates among younger adults have been climbing for years, a trend that has drawn concern from oncologists and public health researchers.
Now six years removed from his father's diagnosis, Kurtz said he wants to use his experience to raise awareness about colorectal cancer and help other young people navigate a parent's illness. His father completed treatment and the family has since returned to many of the activities they had to set aside during those months of chemotherapy and recovery.
