September: Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
As parents, we go to great lengths to protect our children from harm – starting at the moment they’re born or even at the moment we have a positive pregnancy test. We buy baby gates and monitors. We watch the latest toy recalls. We teach our kids to not accept candy or rides from strangers and to “just say no”.
However, when a family hears the diagnosis that their child has cancer, it can be quite overwhelming, if not devastating.
Childhood Cancer Affects the Whole Family
“Childhood cancer is a family disease since it affects everyone in the family’s system… this includes families, school and friends, the total environment of the child,” says Nancy Cincotta1, MSW, LCSW, ACSW, BCD and Psychosocial Director at
Cincotta encourages families find a group as a way to cope and find support. “The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a tremendous resource for families on back to school initiatives, on information services for financial support.”
When we raise money for Light The Night, we help support families as they deal with first diagnosis and endure their cancer journey.
Through the Patient Services programs and resources such as patient education programs and the
This support is free to families because of money donated through Light The Night and other Society programs.
Survivorship Issues
Currently, there are approximately 270,000 living survivors of their childhood cancer and their cancer treatment2. This group continues to grow as advanced, less-toxic treatments are developed.
“Newer therapies are based on improved understanding of the potential treatment complications of those earlier therapies,” said Leslie L. Robison3, PhD, Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control at St. Jude, principal investigator of CCSS, and senior author of the study.
While hopeful, it’s expected that three-quarters of this group will develop a chronic health problem and 40 percent may experience a “serious, life-threatening, disabling, or fatal condition” within 30 years of the initial cancer diagnosis.
Until targeted-cell therapies advance and only the cancer cells are affected and not the normal tissues or more advanced treatments are developed, many survivors will continue to be afflicted with cognitive and late effects from radiation and chemotherapy.
For more on cancer survivorship and a continuing series on childhood cancer, visit http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_page?item_id=74410.
Future Treatment Options and Prevention for Childhood Blood Cancer
Thirty years ago, a child’s cancer diagnosis most likely meant a death sentence. But, with years of research, a family can now get through cancer treatment with increased hopes for survival. A cure for blood cancers still has not been discovered, but the future holds hope for a breakthrough with continued funding and research.
For the past three years, Joseph Wiemels, PhD, has been the recipient of funding because Friends of Heroes and affiliates raised over $100,000 each year to achieve a grant-naming opportunity bestowed by the Society.
“Wiemels is acknowledged as a mainstream expert on the origins of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.”4
He led the research discovering that most dormant childhood leukemias begin before birth and he continues to research in hopes to identify the causes – dietary, environmental, or otherwise – that could result in the potentially harmful genetic mutation.
“Unraveling the causes and timing of the mutations that lead to leukemia, may allow us to predict and prevent this devastating disease,” said Wiemels5.
What can we do?
Once again in 2007, Friends of Heroes hopes to reach the $100,000 needed for the grant-naming opportunity so we can continue to support Dr. Wiemels’ research. We will also be supporting valuable Patient Services with the money we raise for Light The Night.
This September, help us honor Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Please join us as a donor, a walker or an affiliate team so we can continue to help pediatric cancer patients and their families. Your help makes a difference to improve the lives of patients and can fund the necessary research to find a CURE!
Sources:
1 http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/graphics/National/EI2530DFinalTranscription.pdf
2 http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aid=2800901
3 http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/71319.cfm
4 http://pub.ucsf.edu/today/cache/feature/200703082.html
5 http://www.ucsfhealth.org/adult/health_library/news/2002/05/9747.html
Friends of Heroes is a national Light the Night Friends and Family team. We are comprised of moms, dads, families and friends compelled to help find a cure for blood cancers.