Featured Series
Young and Navigating Cancer
A multi-format project on what happens when health systems aren’t built for young patients with cancer.
Vertical video trailer for Washington Post short doc “One Last Wish.”
The Overview:
Young and Navigating Cancer began with one urgent question: Why are cancer rates rising among young adults, and what happens when they fall seriously ill? That question evolved into a deeply reported, multi-part series combining first-person narratives, hard data, and accountability reporting to illuminate the growing crisis of early-onset cancer.
The project spans multiple forms of immersive storytelling—a video-first interactive feature, a short documentary, a podcast episode, a mini social-video series, and even a comic—turning data into human stories, exposing systemic gaps in care, and centering the voices of young adults navigating cancer.
Each format served a distinct purpose:
1
Video-Led Interactive:
Combines data, research, and immersive visuals to guide audiences through trends, systemic gaps, and intimate moments, bringing the crisis to life.
2
Documentary & Audio:
Places audiences in hospital rooms, homes, and everyday life, showing how young adults confront survival, relationships, and life-changing diagnoses.
3
Service-Focused Social Videos & Comic:
Provides practical tools and guidance for young patients navigating a health system not designed for them.
By blending accountability reporting, immersive storytelling, and rigorous data, the series goes beyond statistics to show what it feels like to be young, sick, and underserved—and why health systems must adapt to meet this growing crisis.
Story Highlights
Tanner and Shay’s Story
PROJECT CONTRIBUTION:
Pitched and co-reportedLead filmmakerContributing podcaster
Story Highlights
INTERACTIVE FEATURE:
229K views
As more young adults are diagnosed with cancer, Tanner and Shay are having to balance a life and death decision: whether to start a family as Tanner is dying.
Reporting by Ariana Eunjung Cha and Drea Cornejo. Video by Drea Cornejo and Julia Wall. Senior produced by Whitney Leaming and Jessica Koscielniak. Data reporting by Dan Keating. Photos by Jahi Chikwendiu. Design by Chelsea Conrad. Editing by Lynh Bui, Mary-Ellen Deily and Wendy Galietta.
Short Doc:
444K views
At just 25, Tanner Martin was diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer. Amid hospital visits, endless scans and painful treatments, he and his wife, Shay, faced an agonizing question: Could they still chase their dream of starting a family?
Filmed and edited by Drea Cornejo and Julia Wall. Senior produced by Whitney Leaming and Jessica Koscielniak.
Since 2000, the rate of new cancer diagnosis for people ages 15 to 49 has climbed by 10 percent. This year, more than 200,000 people in that age group will be newly diagnosed with cancer. In this episode, Post video journalist Drea Cornejo sits down with his Elahe Izadi to talk about how Drea’s own cancer diagnosis three years ago, when she was 26, motivated her to report on the realities facing more younger adults. PODCAST EPISODE:
Produced by Elana Gordon. Mixed by Ted Muldoon and edited by Renita Jablonski.
Story Highlights
The new faces of cancer
PROJECT CONTRIBUTION:
Pitch and reportedLead filmmakerSole video editor
Story Highlights
INTERACTIVE FEATURE:
317K views
Young cancer patients are reclaiming the narrative around illness — online, unfiltered and on their own terms. This is what living with cancer in your 20s, 30s and 40s is like.
Video reporting by Drea Cornejo and Lindsey Sitz with additional support from Ross Godwin. Motion graphics by Brian Monroe. Art direction by Drea Cornejo, Lindsey Sitz and Chelsea Conrad. Senior produced by Whitney Leaming.
Story Highlights
Reporter-Led Social Series
PROJECT CONTRIBUTION:
Scripted, filmed and edited by me
A social-first mini video series for young adults navigating cancer, combining reporting and personal experience to tackle physical, mental, relational, and financial challenges. Using a low-fi, reporter-to-camera style, the videos provide practical guidance, demystify what it’s like to be a young patient, and foster a sense of community among viewers. Part of our social experiment also included a comic, which you can read here.
Created and hosted by Drea Cornejo.
*Combined series total views
Story Highlights
886K views*