Strides continue to be made in pediatric cancer treatment

Date: 10/2/2014

SPRINGFIELD – This year alone some 15,780 children under the age of 21 will be diagnosed with cancer.

The good news for these young cancer patients and their families is that what was once an incurable disease now has an almost 80 percent cure rate – surpassing that of adult cancers – thanks to research and the development of new therapies.

September was National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, designed to bring attention to the types of cancers affecting children and adolescents and the physical and mental journey they and their families face on the long and challenging road to recovery.

“It was devastating to learn that our daughter Katie had something as serious as cancer, when our original worry was that she had strep throat or an ear infection. The implications were just overwhelming. We had never known anyone so close to us with cancer, so we had no idea what to expect,” said Katie’s mom, Lisa Pasay of Springfield, about her daughter’s diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

About one-third of childhood cancers like 11-year-old Pasay’s are leukemias. Brain tumors are the most common solid tumors, followed by less common neuroblastomas, Wilms’ tumors which is a rare kidney cancer, and sarcomas involving the muscles and bones.

“We see families from all over Western Massachusetts for treatment of what we refer to as benign hematology blood disorders, such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemia, to more serious and intense childhood cancers ranging from leukemia to brain cancer,” Dr. Satkiran Grewal, chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Baystate Children’s Hospital, said.

Most treatment of childhood cancers today involves standardized protocols – receiving the same treatment as another child with the same cancer elsewhere – often involving a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy for which there are new and better drugs and methods to help children deal with the side effects of treatment.

While learning that your child has cancer can be an overwhelming experience for parents, it is not a lonely, enduring journey that families must go through on their own. In addition to the support of doctors, nurses and other caregivers, child life specialists at Baystate Children’s Hospital help children and their families understand what is happening through play, support and education.

“Dr. Richardson and other caregivers at Baystate Children’s Hospital were able to explain to us in detail what treatment would be like for Katie, so we had an idea of the road ahead of us,” Pasay said, referring to Katie’s pediatric oncologist, Dr. Matthew Richardson.

“Like any child, Katie was very scared at the beginning. Initially, she had no idea what was going on – she just knew she was really, really sick. The Child Life staff at the hospital were wonderful and really helped Katie to open up about what was happening to her, and they were also able to make her feel more comfortable about various procedures she would be undergoing,” she added.

A new weekly television drama, “Red Band Society,” recently made its debut on the Fox television network about a group of seriously ill patients, some with cancer, in a fictional pediatric hospital. Richardson hasn’t seen the show yet, but hopes that it can realistically show the range of characteristics that children with cancer may experience – from fear to bravery to even humor.

While facing cancer is a different journey for each child, Richardson said that, in his experience, most pediatric patients just want to be kids and do all the things that their friends are doing. Sometimes, though, they must face time away from friends and classmates while undergoing treatments. Older kids have the burden of dealing with a diagnosis which they are able to understand is potentially life-threatening. Ultimately, though, Richardson is struck by the physical and emotional resiliency of his patients, even in very demanding circumstances.

“For Katie, who is in the sixth grade, right now it’s really about missing school and not seeing her friends while undergoing chemotherapy. But, she seems to be adjusting well with her leukemia diagnosis. After learning that she would be losing her hair from the chemotherapy treatments, Katie right away had us call Locks for Love and they came to the hospital to cut her hair,” Pasay said.

But, long before being diagnosed with leukemia, Katie was already planning to donate her hair to Locks of Love and she was just waiting “for the right time.”

“The right time was having them cut her hair before she lost it from the chemotherapy treatment,” said Pasay.

Improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of ALL over the years has resulted in significant improvements in childhood leukemia survival rates, with most going into remission in the first month of treatment.

For more information on Baystate Children’s Hospital, visit baystatehealth.org/bch, and for more information on the Baystate Regional Cancer Program visit baystatehealth.org/cancer.