Photojournalist Ida Munch

Marlene Brokmann is 26 years old and was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. The cancer has so ingrained that she can not be cured, and that hurts both physically and mentally. Despite the gloomy outlook, she plan to see her 7-year-old son grow up.

Every year, about 1,300 Danish people aged 15 to 39 get diagnosed with cancer. It is 3-4 young per day. Each year over 300 danish people are diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors (NET). Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) is a rare form of cancer that usually develops in the gastrointestinal tract or lungs. Each type NET has different symptoms , depending on the hormones the tumor produce , but it’s not all tumor cells causing symptoms.It means that NET often is detected after the patient has have cancer for several years,

The motto of the international NET-day website is: ” Think zebra – if you do not suspect it , you can not detect it.” The NET-cancer-bow is zebra striped.

In the medical world “zebra” is a common term for rare diseases. A classic saying for medical students is: ” When you hear hoofbeats, think horse, not zebra.” So suppose first most likely – if someone coughs , it’s probably because he is suffering from tonsillitis and not of tuberculosis. But precisely for NET patients, it would be preferable that the doctor were thinking “zebra” and not (only) “horse” at a much earlier stage.