Cancer is a word which evokes many different images and emotions. Nothing in this world can prepare a person for the utter devastation of finding out someone has been diagnosed with cancer, especially when this person is a child. Over the past twenty five years the amount of research and the survival rate for children suffering with cancer have increased dramatically. Despite these successes, the funding for new research necessary to keep these children alive and healthy is miniscule and too dependent on short term grants. Of the billions of dollars spent each year on cancer treatments and research less than a third is contributed to researching pediatric cancer. Given the media focus on adult cancers, research for pediatric cancer is underfunded. In order to maintain the increasing survival rate of the children undergoing pediatric cancer and support those who have survived the disease, better funding is quintessential to develop and further promote research.
Government funding has proven to be essential and effective in the fight against cancer. On December 23, 1971 President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act, which promised to finance the quest for the cure. Financial aid such as this has directly benefitted survival rates for those diagnosed with cancer. Forty years ago before such funding was provided, when a child was diagnosed with cancer most physicians considered the patient to be terminally ill and supportive care was almost the only thing offered to the family. However over the last few decades, due to research and participation in clinical trials performed due to funding, the majority of children are cured. Because of the creations of new drugs and therapies as a result of government aid, the survival rat...
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Pediatric Oncology is at the heart of many organizations. There are many financial and emotional burdens associated with a loved one having cancer, and thanks to these foundations parents and children can sleep a little bit better at night knowing that someone has their back. Some of the more prominent groups that have an impact here in our community are: Alliance for Childhood Cancer, Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation, CURE Childhood Cancer, and National Cancer Institute (Mccaul). These are organizations that make an impact in the lives of the children battling cancer and their families. Whether an organization has been started in memory of a loved one or to support a college or hospital, organizations like those listed above have
It is difficult to detect cancer in children. The symptoms can often be caused by an illness that is...
Progress and innovation are key components to discover new possibilities to fight against childhood cancer. To begin with, my interest in healthcare sparked when I was diagnosed with childhood sarcoma cancer at the age of seven. As a cancer
In 1998, the most common cause of child and adolescents death claimed approximately 2500 young lives in the United States alone. The cause of this dreadful loss of life was due to childhood cancers. This paper explores the changes in the life of children dealing with cancer, families that have been affected by these diseases (also known as pediatric cancer) and a small part of the journey they experience. Cancer does not discriminate and affects all members of the family unit. This paper investigates the challenges that a family will experience from the first diagnoses through palliative care. It examines research and statistic about childhood cancer from organization as the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the National Cancer Institute's (NCI), Children’s Cancer Research Fund (CCRF), and other cancer research organization. Although there are 12 major types of cancers that affect children, the main focus in this paper will be acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). It will also include an interview, the personal experiences of a family, real life emotions, and the effect on the parents and sibling of the (Ashtyn) child presently facing acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). Life is no longer what formerly was known as being normal. Life with cancer becomes a new journey, the new normal family life that, unfortunately is not normal, but a life that includes cancer.
Leukemia like any other cancer is devastating especially when it affects children and especially when they are too young to understand most of what is happening to their bodies. Facts like these are what should be used to motivate researchers and caregivers to help to make the process of treatment and care for patient dealing with disease one that is pleasant and supportive. The research should be taken seriously and it is hoped that in the future a cure can be found and the cause of the disease can be explained. It is also hoped that achievements like those can give families who are coping with disease or who have lost loved ones to the disease can find closure and solace in knowing that other may not have to go through what they have.
Pediatric oncology has been so very rewarding in many ways, but also so very cruel in a few ways. The good days are great, but the sad days are heartbreaking. But beyond the death and the suffering, there is a whole other layer of
In 1946, a woman by the name of Mary Lasker, a member of the original ASCC, helped raise more than $4 million for the Society, where one million of it was used to establish and fund infamous cancer research (ACS Inc, 2011). Soon after, Dr. Sidney Farber, one of the Society’s first research grantees, achieved the first temporary cancer remission in a child with acute leukemia using the drug Aminopterin (ACS Inc, 2011). The ACS has been developing research theories for decades, with approximately $3.5 billion dedicated to finding a cure to cancer through research (ACS, 2011). With the ACS name nationally recognized, they were able to help fund many national, government, and hospital prevention strategies and research.
Jose Baselga, a lead Physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York said, “The next 10 years are expected to usher in unprecedented advances in oncology, including molecularly driven diagnostic and therapeutic developments, whole genome sequencing that results in true precision-based medicine, survivorship care plans that address long-term quality of life concerns, and team-based, cross-disciplinary approaches to research.”(Advances in Medical). This educated guess by Dr. Baselga can lead us to believe that our education about cancer grows with every new account and new procedure that we complete. In the next decade, our understanding of Oncology will be revolutionized in the hope that it will bring us closer to our intended goal of defeating this monstrous disease. Oncology is a flourishing field that is and will be in high demand in the 21st Century because when a problem has been confirmed to be present the human task force will go to various lengths in order to find a solution. Now that Oncology has found a way to presently deal with cancer such as chemotherapy, addressing long term effects of those solutions will be an area that will be focused on as Oncology takes steps forwards towards a cure. Another concentration in Oncology that will develop in the next 10 years will be the prevention of
Nothing seems more rewarding than being able to hear that all the hard work paid off. After months or years of fighting an uphill battle with cancer, there is finally a moment of peace when the word "remission" is spoken. Unfortunately, this word does not mean the cancer has been permanently cured, and some people never get to hear that word which is longed for from every cancer patient. In general, cancer is one of the leading causes of death in both children and adults. Unlike many other diseases, cancer is an extremely versatile illness; it can be found in many different forms with an uncountable number of causes. This creates a difficulty in finding a permanent cure. When it comes to the frequency in specific types of cancer, it greatly depends on the age and sex of a person. According to Med Net, while Leukemia is most common in adolescent years, the majority of adult males with cancer suffer from cancer of the prostate gland, and when it comes to women, the most frequent is breast cancer.
No one, no matter how weak or strong, rich or poor, tall or small, is safe from the reach of cancer. Cancer is a dangerous disease killing millions every year without any for sure or easy way to treat it. For years people have tried to raise awareness towards cancer but now that it threatens the lives of so many do people listen and try to help. However even with the help of dozens of different groups and agencies cancer rates continue to grow at an alarming rate. Although we have found ways to treat it we only have theories on how to prevent and stop it. What make cancer so deadly are its Symptoms, commonness, dangerous treatments, the many different areas it can affect, and the cost encored.
Despite major and exciting medical advances – spurring an overall survival rate of 10 percent just fifty years ago to nearly 90 percent today, for many rare forms of childhood cancers, the survival rate is much lower.
It is strongly believed that a cure for cancer will be found. Thousands of charities and organizations are raising money to help find a cure. Many charitable events take place such as Relay for Life. In the future we hope and pray that our descendants will not have to worry about this awful disease. Just like Bill Clinton stated “It is now conceivable that our children’s children will know the term cancer only as a constellation of stars.”
No matter who it happens to, any type of cancer is heart breaking. However, one’s heart seems to crack a little bit deeper when you hear a child has been diagnosed. Several forms of cancer can arise during childhood. The most common is called acute lymphoblastic/lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). In fact, it is so common between the ages 0-14, that people refer to it as childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Kanwar, 2013).
Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. Tumors are then created and interfering with the digestive, nervous and circulatory systems. It is one of the most leading causes of death, reaching at about 8.2 million deaths in 2012. It is expected that cancer will rise from 14 million to 22 million within the next 2 decades. With over 100 cancer research centers in the United States studying how to treat this disease, people need to understand the importance of donating also with the awareness of signs and symptoms in the early stages. But, what are we doing about it? Do we have the technology to finally be able to put this deadly disease to an end?
When one hears the word “cancer”, thoughts about how their previous life is about to change cloud the mind, but when one hears the word cancer for their child, it is a whole different outlook; the affects of childhood cancer are not only taken on by the patients, but also by their families; the affects can range from emotionally to physically, socially to financially, and even educationally. “Childhood cancer is considered rare, especially compared with adults. Still it’s the leading cause of death in children pre-adolescent, school-aged children” (Report: Childhood Cancer Rates Continue to Rise, but Treatment Helps Drive Down Deaths). Around 12,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with cancer every year and around one in five children that are diagnosed with cancer will die.