Scientists are starting trials in under-14s to look at genes in their tumours and find new ways of treating cancer in young people.
Every year in the UK about 2,500 13 to 24 year-olds are diagnosed with cancer.
Eleanor Oldroyd was one of them. We spoke to her when she was diagnosed with a soft tissue sarcoma aged 17.
Now she's better, Eleanor says different treatment could have improved her quality of life while she was battling the disease.
What life is like with cancer at 17
She thinks some of the worst things she went through with cancer was the treatment, not the illness itself.
"The thing that disrupted my life and made me have to leave college was the chemo, because that makes you so poorly," she says.
"That has long-term effects, like this year I found out I couldn't have children and that's a big blow.
"All my life I've always known I wanted to have kids, so I have got to think of alternatives in the future or if I meet someone I have to explain it to them.
"It's a big thing, it's permanent and it's very distressing."
Eleanor says that as the radiotherapy has left her with permanent hair loss she also needs to have a hair transplant soon.
"I'm living a normal life now but what I have been through over the last two years for someone of my age is not normal so sometimes it can be very lonely," she adds.
'Fewer side-effects'
Experts think new treatments, to be trialled in 400 under-14s at a number of hospitals, could make a big difference to young people suffering from cancer.
"One day children could receive treatment that is tailored to their specific disease. The treatments might, therefore, be more effective and have fewer side-effects," says Dr Emma Smith from Cancer Research UK.
"Understanding the role these faulty genes are playing and whether tailored treatments are better and more effective could help teenagers too."
'Not as disruptive'
Eleanor says if the trials work, it could be "brilliant" news for young people fighting cancer.
"If I had had a choice I would have just taken tablets or had some surgery and then get on with life, but unfortunately I had to have 14 rounds of chemotherapy," she says.
"To move forward with new, better ways of treating the cancer would be fantastic. To see it as not disrupting people's lives as much or as not as much of a holdback for people who have been diagnosed with it.
"It does give families hope as well. My mum and dad had to stop work to look after me and all the family rallied round.
"But with this we could still all live a bit more of a normal life, when you don't have to think about money or when you'd be going back to school or college."
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