According to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, understanding your risk of developing a secondary cancer is of utmost importance.  You may have known someone or heard stories of people that survived one type of cancer to develop yet another type.  It has long since been discovered that if a secondary cancer does appear it is not always the spread of the first cancer but another kind all together.  Developing a second type of cancer has a very low risk of happening from receiving radiation or chemotherapy but are genetic or hereditary in nature.

The chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society's home office in Atlanta,  J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD, states that there are groups of patients that may have a higher chance of getting a secondary cancer.  The first group includes children who have had cancer before the age of 15.  This risk is increased due to the result of a hereditary cancer "syndrome", side effects of treatment that was received early on, and the fact that they could develop common cancers later on in life.  The aging population develop cancer due to the aging process. Most men in their 80's and 90's will most likely develop some form of prostate cancer, colon, lung or skin cancer.

Arming yourself and your loved one with knowledge about family history, lifestyle factors and early screening is key.  Taking the time right now to make healthy lifestyle changes such as eating right, exercising, decreasing sun exposure by wearing sunscreen and not smoking or drinking alcohol will help reduce your risk of cancer.

National Comprehensive Cancer Network (2012).  Understanding your risk of developing
     cancers.  Retrieved from: http://www.nccn.com