Are ‘Turbo Cancers’ Real? Inside the Rise of Early-Onset Cancer (2026)
For years, clinicians and patients have described a disturbing pattern — cancers appearing suddenly, growing at unexpected speed, or diseases thought stable returning aggressively within weeks or months. A sudden rise in younger people with early onset cancers which are more aggressive with more (and unusual) genetic change has been increasingly noted - colorectal, breast and GI tract cancers seem to lead the way. Some called them “turbo cancers”. In oncology, the phenomenon is known as hyper-progression: cancers that accelerate far more rapidly than expected. Early on, these reports were ignored. They surfaced as scattered cases — isolated anecdotes that were easy to dismiss. One of the first to speak publicly was Belgian immunologist Michel Goldman, whose story was published in The Atlantic in 2022. He believed the Covid-19 vaccine may have accelerated his lymphoma. Shortly after vaccination and boosting, he developed swollen lymph nodes, fatigue and night sweats. Imaging revealed ...