Cancer in Kids

No one ever thinks it can happen to them: your child has been diagnosed with cancer!  It’s always a terrifying diagnosis – and even more so when it’s a child.  What do you do?

The good news is that cure rates have improved dramatically. Thirty years ago, a child diagnosed with cancer had only a 10 percent chance of survival.  Today, that number is up to almost 80 percent. But even the best statistics don’t mean much to a family hearing this diagnosis for the first time.  Meet a 10-year-old boy who is still undergoing treatment for leukemia; a thirteen-year-old girl who underwent life-altering surgery to get rid of her bone cancer and the parents who have held their kids’ lives together emotionally as the doctors concentrate on their physical repair. Join us and share their heart-wrenching but life-affirming experiences – to better help us all comprehend this disease, and to learn the things each of us can do to help.

Guests:

Hernan Salvatierra, Age 10, Cancer Patient
Lisbeth Carpio, Hernan’s Mother
Toni Clarke, Age 13, Cancer Patient
Carla Clarke, Toni’s Mother
Alina Galleta, Age 4, Cancer Patient
Maria Galleta, Alina’s Mother
Tricia Cox - Child-Life Specialist, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Samantha Sherman, LCSW - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Richard Gorlick, MD - Pediatric Cancer Specialist; Division Chief, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology,The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore; Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Pharmacology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Kate Gowans, MD - Cancer Support Specialist; Associate Staff, Pediatric Hematology & Oncology, The Cleveland Clinic

Tips:

Symptoms That Could Possibly Be Signs of Cancer:

• Unusually Persistent Pain in Bones or Joints
• Unusually Persistent Fever - IF the child also has continuing joint pains or paleness
• Unusually Frequent Headaches - IF these are worse in the morning, or are accompanied by vomiting
• Masses In The Abdomen - usually hard and painless
• Hard and Enlarged Lymph Nodes

Resources:: 

American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/
1-800-ACS-2345

National Cancer Institute
http://www.cancer.gov/
202-966-7300

Leukemia Lymphoma Society
http://www.lls.org/
Society's Information Resource Center (IRC)
(800) 955-4572

Books:

Helpful book for parents:
Shelter from the Storm: Caring for a Child with a Life-Threatening Illness,
by Joanne Hilden, MD and Daniel Tobin, MD

Winnie King, M.D.