Children and families fighting pediatric cancer are being honored during the month of September. It’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. WGVU talked with a local cancer specialist who says great strides are being made, but more awareness and help are still needed.
“Many people hear children and cancer in the same sentence and we know that’s thats not right and it’s something that’s not supposed to happen to our children but it does happen.”
Dr. James Fahner is the Division Chief for pediatric hematology and oncology at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. He says pediatric cancer continues to be the leading cause of death due to disease in children under the age of 15. However he is encouraged that due to modern advances more than 80 percent of children with cancer will survive five years or more…
“These are diseases that a just few decades ago, represented almost a certain death sentence for many children, which are now so highly curable. Certainly the best example of that is childhood leukemia,the most common childhood cancer. It is the one that has some of the most highest success rates with 85 and 90% cure rates for many of the children.”
But in contrast, the success rate in other cancers is not as great.
“We still have those diseases that despite incredible advances continue to be really heartbreakingly difficult to treat and are not as responsive to currently available treatment, like brain tumors, some advanced carcoma type tumors and especially a very devastating children's tumor called "neuroblastoma." ”
Dr. Fahner says he and his colleagues at Helen Devos Children’s Hospital are working hard to provide hope and make medical advances adding Children’s Cancer Awareness Month allows them to get the word out and bring support to families on a cancer journey.
On Thursday at noon, they’ll chat live on Facebook about childhood cancer and on Saturday the public is invited to circle the hospital and give it a big “hug” in support. Attendees are encouraged to wear gold or yellow clothing to help show their support and arrive at 10:45 at the children’s hospital.
