Background: Approximately one in three Swedish people will receive a cancer diagnosis. Cancer primarily affects the elderly but also young people suffer. Young people are in a period of life that could put a strain of the ordinary when they are faced with choices and new challenges. The basic sense of security in everyday life is not so obvious and many suffer from, for example, stress and the feeling of being inadequate in relation to the requirements. It is relevant that the nurses can put themselves into what it is like to be young and afflicted with cancer, with the pressures of life itself and what the disease represents. For the nurse, it is important to try to understand what quality of life, crisis and management means, because it often is crucial for young patients with cancer.

Aim: The aim is to increase the understanding of how the young people with cancer handle to live with a fatal disease.

Methods: A literature review based on ten qualitative scientific articles. The articles were selected through a systematic literature search in the databases CINAHL, Pubmed and ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source. The analysis of the articles was made through comparison of the similarities and differences.

Results: In the results three different themes emerged: Being normal, Having access to support and To find a positive or accepting attitude. The result illustrates the most common strategies used by young people to handle living with cancer. There are also a number of subthemes presented attached to these themes which clarifies different aspects of the strategies.

Discussion: The discussion clarifies the meaning of the result's main themes. What might it mean to live normally? Barriers to support and management was The lack of information evidencing how important it was to get information, but also how this was one of the shortcomings in health care. The need for support to patient and familyreveals that support from family is not only important for the patient but also something that can sometimes burst from the family side. Age adjustment in health care is discussed as a more age-appropriate care could be beneficial for young people. Although The attitude’s importance addressed in the sense of how important it is to stay positive and how hope can get a person to live longer.