The death of a young woman sheds light on the alarming rise in early cancer in young people.
Carrie Everett made history as the first Liberian American and HBCU student to win the title of Miss North Carolina in 2024. And now, almost two years later, the nation is mourning the death of a 22-year-old after a long battle with signet ring cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer.
“We are saddened to share last night, the beautiful nightingale, Helen Carrie Everett, passed away after a courageous battle with cancer,” her family wrote in a statement posted on her Instagram. “The cries of his heart became songs that moved the soul of everyone who was happy to hear him sing.” He lived a full life and in his last words, on stage and in life, he preached the goodness of God.
After relinquishing her crown to the new Miss North Carolina in June 2025, Everett began experiencing swelling and a persistent cough, prompting doctors to diagnose her with pneumonia. However, as her symptoms worsened, further tests revealed a mass in the pelvic area, which led to the diagnosis of cancer.
“I was shocked. I was also very scared because you hear that word and you think about all these stories. I knew that my life was going to change,” Everett told ABC11 in September 2025. “I’m holding on to God, I’m keeping faith and feelings of worship and prayer because I believe that I’m healed in the name of Jesus.”
The 22-year-old queen’s battle with cancer points to an alarming trend that scientists have noticed in recent years. Researchers have noted an alarming increase in cancers occurring at a young age, often referred to as “early cancers”. The American Cancer Society reports that cancer rates in women under the age of 50 are now 82% higher than their male counterparts, marking a 51% increase since 2002. Studies have found that colon cancer, breast cancer and kidney cancer are among the 10+ types of cancer that are increasing in adults between the ages of 20 and 50.
“We know that the rates of several cancers are increasing in young adults, including those outside the intestinal lining, such as breast and myeloma. However, it is interesting that the rates of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) are increasing in young adults, compared to the decrease in older people,” said Dr. Andrea Cercek, gastrointestinal specialist of the Color-Onsec-Onsectal and Color-Onsectal Gastrointestinal Specialist on the Color-Onsectal Cancer of Families at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). “A lot of health issues are happening at a younger age than in years past.”
“This is serious and troubling,” Shari Goldfarb, MD, breast oncologist and Director of MSK’s Young Women With Breast Cancer program, added. “Some of the risk factors for breast cancer are increasing in young women.
Similarly, Dr. Shanthi Sivendran, director of the Early Starting Cancer Program at the Yale cancer center, told PBS News that 15 percent of all cancer patients at the Yale cancer center and Smilow Cancer Hospital were diagnosed with cancer when they were 45 years old or younger. Both Dr. Sivendran and Dr. Cercek think that environmental factors may be the cause of this change; however, scientists have not been able to pinpoint a single smoking gun for these changes.
With this in mind, medical experts encourage everyone to not only be aware of living a healthy life, but also to go for regular checkups from their primary care providers, especially if there is a history of cancer in their family.
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