Childhood Leukemia Research Paper

Leukemia is a cancer that affects the bone marrow. The bon marrow is the soft spongy center of the bone that produces blood cells. Leukemia is found in white blood cells or leukocytes. The white blood cells help to fight ff infections and other diseases. Normally, cells produce in an orderly way, but people that have leukemia the cell production gets out of control. The marrow produces too many immature white blood cells called blasts. They are differently shaped and can’t carry out their usual duties.

When a parent takes their child to the doctor the last thing they want to hear is that their child has cancer. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a child to be diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, also known as ALL. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia is one of the most common forms of childhood cancer, and “makes up approximately 25% of cancer diagnoses among children under 15 years old” (3). Children under five years of age are at the most risk of developing ALL. Since it is an acute form of cancer once the onset has begun the disease quickly begins to worsen, therefore patients must seek treatment as soon as possible. “ALL is different than other diseases in that it is not just a single disease but also rather a group of related diseases with different subtypes”(1). This uniqueness causes the treatment of ALL to depend on the subtypes the patient has, therefore each

According to WebMD, there are many different types of leukemia that are common in children, they include: acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), acute myelogenous

You are watching the television, and a St. Jude commercial comes on. The commercial gets you thinking about those small children that are fighting to survive. Maybe you donate to the cancer organization, maybe you will not. This commercial gets you thinking of those children, and families, and how they are coping with this big obstacle in their lives. The commercial shows all of those sick innocent children in the hospital that need help, and answers. Childhood cancer is something that can either give a child a second life as a result, or take their life away at such a young age. Most people do not know a lot about cancer, or the ways that they can help cancer victims. There are many things that people can learn about childhood cancer such as, the most common types of childhood cancer, the ways to treat it, bringing awareness to this vicious illness, and how the doctors, families, and patients deal with this challenge.

There are many discussions that remain in the world about what is the number one killer in children today, cancer; and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia is one of the most common childhood diseases, more likely to occur in children under the age of fifteen. (Leukemia-Lymphoma) There are few adults that may end up getting Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia but the symptoms would be much harder to find than it would be in a child.

Multiple forms of leukemia are present in today’s children. The four major forms of childhood leukemia include Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, and Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) is cancer of the bone and bone marrow (“Acute Myelogenous Leukemia” 1). Compared to AML where 10% of AML patients are children, Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia accounts for 80% of all childhood acute leukemia’s. ALL occurs in children ages three through seven (Zieve 1). Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) acquires six processes from the beginning of the disease to the end of the disease; understanding ALL involves learning about its causes, symptoms,

Cancer is known as a disease when abnormal cells start to divide uncontrollably and start to destroy body tissue. “This year about 564,800 Americans are expected to die of cancer—more than 1,500 people a day” (TLCF). Throughout the past ten years the percentage of death rates have gone down for many cancers but, for others it has increased.

This paper will provide an overview of childhood leukemia, as depicted in My Sister's Keeper

Did you know that over one third of all cancers for children in the U.S, is Leukemia? Leukemia is one of the most common types of cancer. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society are working on ways to find better cures, and ways than there already are, but could use everyone’s help.

Leukemia cells are abnormal; they cannot help the body fight off any infections. Leukemia takes down your immune system very fast. With this in affect people who have leukemia do get many infections. The patient may also have too few healthy red blood cells and platelets. In acute leukemia the patient develops symptoms suddenly, and are diagnosed when they go to the doctor because they feel sick. In chronic leukemia, symptoms may not appear for a long time. When the symptoms do appear they are mild at first but gradually get worse. Some of the common symptoms are fever, flu-like symptoms, weakness, infections, loss of weight and appetite, easy bleeding/bruising, tiny red spots underneath skin, sweating mainly at night, and bone or joint pain.

Visualize yourself having to wake up every morning it is the same routine as the day before, you get out of bed the same time, take some pills, and try to eat breakfast. You do not have the strength so you go back to bed, you wake up a couple hours later and your sick again for the third time today. Nurses coming in and out room to take your vitals. You feel horrible everyday. You’re not allowed to see anyone, but direct family. You have no immune system so a cough could easily kill you. So how do you think it makes the children with this disease feel if they cannot be a normal child because the littlest slip up could kill them? At the age of 19, approximately one in a thousand children will be diagnosed with Leukemia (“Feist”). Childhood Leukemia

Leukemia is a disastrous disease. It is indiscriminate to age, sex ,or body type. Every four minutes, someone is diagnosed with the blood cancer, 201,870 new cases are expected to occur in the United States according to the national cancer institute. Leukemia is a malignant disease of hematopoietic tissue, that is characterized by the replacement of normal bone marrow with neoplastic blood cells. Leukemic cells are known to commonly invade reticuloendothelial tissue, such as the spleen, liver, and lymph nodes. If left untreated it can eventually lead to death. For those individuals diagnosed with leukemia, 41.5% of them will have a life expectancy of five years.

Jack woke up one morning not feeling well. He felt very weak and could not get out of bed. His mother decided to take him to the doctors. The doctors took many tests to figure out what was making him feel that way. After about an hour or two the doctors got the results back from a blood test. Results that would change Jack’s childhood for the worse. Jack has been diagnosed with Leukemia, a blood cancer. Of course, Jack was not sure what that meant but, his parents became worried beyond belief with the long road ahead of them. Scientists and researchers were all involved in the discovery of Leukemia cancer, which increased knowledge of this cancer, decreased deaths and discovered treatments, and started charity groups to fund research.

Approximately 15,780 children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 are diagnosed with cancer each year. Of those 1,960 will die of the disease in the United States. Nobody should have to go through this in their life time, let alone an infant or child. Kids are suffering each and every second of their lives trying to fight the unbearable, frightening, terrible disease. For many, many years, doctors, researchers and nurses have been working to find cures for pediatric cancers. Progress has been made in treating some cancers but there are still many pediatric cancers, which have a high mortality rate.

There are 2 forms of acute leukemia. Acute lymphoblastic and Acute myelogenous. ALL is the most common form in children. The peak onset of ALL is between 2-5 years. AML has the same incidence in males and females. Markers for leukemia include T-cells, B-cells, and Non T-cell/ B-cells. Even though leukemia is is classified as over production of white blood cells, Leukocytes are usually low in these patients. When a blood smear is completed the WBC’s are found to be immature. The onset of leukemia varies. Some children can show signs and symptoms early, and some manifest later. Staging and and prognostic factors determine the effectiveness and how treatment will be implemented. Leukemia can be suspected when checking a patients history, physical signs, and a blood smear. Therapeutic management include IV chemo medications and control of pain. Steroids can also be prescribed to decrease inflammation. Remission is indicated when the child no longer shows clinical signs and symptoms are no longer noted and bone marrow is less than 5% blast cells in the bone marrow. Medications can be intensified to continue furthering the remission. Maintenance is performed on the patient to preserve remission and reduce the number of damaged cell. Bone marrow transplant can be successful but is not recommended for all children. ALL is more indicated in BMT. Prognosis is very important to start treatment and patients who are diagnosed earlier in the disease process has a better rate of cure. Nursing management for the child includes preparing the family and child for procedures whether it may be diagnostic or therapeutic. Using ways the child can understand the procedures and what is expected. Providing continued emotional support is essential for the child, making sure the child does not feel alone and secluded. Build a relationship of trust is therapeutic for the