Effects Of Cancer On Children Under The Age Of 15 ( Toro )

Play is the universal language of children and allows children to express their emotions and individual responses to stressful situations. Play allows children to recreate crucial events that they have experienced and provides the child with a sense of control over the outcome of their play. The presence of a non-directive adult observer during play provides a companion for the child to recall difficult experiences and memories. Medical play is a way for children to work through the process of stressful medical experiences, where children cope with stressful healthcare experiences and can achieve mastery by creating positive outcomes in play. It is vital to understand coping strategies of children, since these approaches may affect their future reactions to healthcare situations. Children who have a sibling with a chronic illness can experience vicarious medical distress and their lives can be impacted by their siblings’ chronic illness. The researchers’ aim of this study was to observe and compare the reactions to medical trauma through play of children with medical illnesses, siblings of children with medical illness, and children who were healthy and did not have family members who were ill.

The importance behind this health issue is that major advances in medicine haven’t significantly improved survivor rates nor have medical advances reduced the number of cancer cases per year in children under 18 years of age (Curtin, Minino, Anderson, 2016).“Congressman McCaul is a father of five and knows that every parent’s worst nightmare is their children receiving a life-threatening cancer diagnosis. Growing up, his childhood best friend lost his battle to cancer. It wasn’t fair then and it isn’t fair now. Congressman McCaul founded the Childhood Cancer

Childhood cancer is two of the most devastating words any parent can hear regarding their child. A child that was diagnosed with cancer in the early 1960s rarely survived and typically led to death. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital understood this concern. When the hospital was created the childhood cancer survival rate was less than 20%. Today, through research and discoveries the rate has raised to 80%.

Medical play is a kind of therapeutic activity which the children use special themes and tools related to medical while they play. This can help the adult to observe the child's feelings and take the information that can support the children when dealing with their healthcare experience. There are three different type of play in healthcare setting. The first type is therapeutic play which helps in improving the healthy state of the child physically and psychologically and the study show that therapeutic play is effective in coping and improving the healthy state of the child. The second type is recreational play which commonly used to make the child happy and facilitate normalization. The third type is developmentally supportive

Childhood cancer takes a tremendous toll on a family in general. It can be absolutely catastrophic without knowledge of the various strategies and coping tools successfully used by other families with histories of childhood cancer. Every year over 3,500 children are diagnosed with cancer (Yoak, 38). The news is devastating to a family. They are faced with a life altering event and the difficult task of helping the child understand what is happening to their bodies. No doubt the doctors and hospital staff will be able to facilitate most of the explanations of the diagnosis and treatment plan. However, I would like to enlighten the readers of this paper about the coping mechanisms utilized by many families to help them to survive this illness.

However, most researches are not oblivious to the late effects of treatments given, such as chemotherapy and radiation. According to Wenninger, the aftermath of childhood cancer causes “chronic medical conditions and impairments in level of functioning and psychosocial outcomes” (Wenninger, 2013, p. 854).

In light that a considerable number of survivors of pediatric cancer do not experience marked disease burden including other psychological factors that is not evident until their adolescence and mid adult years, it is critical to understand their plight in order to create strategies to enable them to have better lives. Cancer is an impending problem currently with nearly all families having interacted with or are related to individuals who have experienced these problems. In light of the increase in childhood cancer, it is critical to equip families and individuals for the implication of the problem socially and culturally, the problem of reintegrating the individuals who have suffered childhood cancer back into the community or even the learning circles is a difficult task. The ability to understand the basis of the problem will enable everybody to have the knowledge of why it is difficult and help in the integration

For some it may help to get rid of cancer completely, it may serve as a supplement to the removal of a tumor or it may stand alone as a treatment to help alleviate the symptoms for an incurable cancer. The harsh side effects which accompany chemotherapy can vary depending on the individual but overall the symptoms of fatigue, weight loss, pain, nausea and hair loss are usually common across the board (Chemotherapy, n.d.). Due to the harshness of chemotherapy treatments, an individual must make the decision of whether or not it is something they would like to pursue. In most cases, adults have the option of making the decision on their own. Children under the age of 18 on the other hand usually have their parents to make the decision for them, with the exception of special cases such as adolescents who are emancipated, when there is a legal guardian who is appointed or if a parent lacks the decision-making ability (Canadian Pediatrics Society, 2004, p. 100). The final say overall does come from whoever has authority over the minor. Although all children under the age of 18 may not be suited to make decisions for themselves, some are capable of making it. Adolescents should be able to make the decision of whether or not they want to go through a chemotherapy

Compared to adults, children have a better response to chemotherapy. Children are more responsive to chemotherapy than adults because children have vulnerable cancer cells which are the ideal target for chemotherapy. The cells for the cancers more likely in children, like leukemia and nervous system cancer, increase rapidly and they respond to chemotherapy in a more dramatic fashion. Furthermore, most side effects of chemotherapy for children are temporary.

Do you know the term cancer? Surely we’ve all heard the word and it dampens the air when you speak of it. We all know cancer can end lives, but we also know that it can be beat just like six year old Violet did. Violet was a normal girl at the age of six until her world was turned upside down when an ultrasound found a fist sized tumor near her kidney. She immediately underwent chemo and surgery. The life of the family changed significantly, but it’s a change they are willing to make in order to keep their precious little girl. During this time Violet and her family had to seek help from a pediatric oncologist. Pediatric oncologists save lives, here is how you can become the hero in children’s eyes.

Are you interested in participating in a research study for survivors of childhood cancer -Yes: ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬_______ No: __________

The Arizona Cancer Foundation for Children is a non profit organization that supports children with cancer. The founder, Chrisie Funari, lost her daughter, Ava, to cancer. at only 18 months, Ava was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. For 3.5 years, Chrisie and her family traveled across the country searching for the best care for her daughter. Ava had gone through many toxic treatments than most adult cancer patients. Due to all the aggressive treatments, her teeth slowly disintegrated, she lost her hair, and her kidneys failed. at the age of five, Ava lost her life to cancer. After the death of her daughter, Chrisie did not lose hope. Till this very day, Chrisie assists in funding research programs that will help children and help families

These courses will strengthen the intangible skills needed to make lasting contributions to childhood cancer

As established in the National Cancer Institute, “Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide for children and adolescents in America, accounting for more than 91,250 children that lose their lives to this disease” (National Cancer Institute). Cancer is not considered a terminal illness, but more of a chronic illness because of the intense treatment that the individual has to endure. As a result of this treatment the chances of survival for children suffering from pediatric cancer has increased around 80 percent. The increment in the survival rate has made it possible for many parents to not have to go through the acceptance that they are about to lose their child to a terminal illness, but have coping strategies that will make them adapt to the fear of the reoccurrence of that illness. This illness has a great impact on the patient as well as the family because not only do they have to adapt to this illness physically, but also mentally. Research has shown that there are both short term and long term effects that come into effect when the child is both in treatment and also years after the treatment. The type of cancers that these adolescents have to endure range from leukemia, brain tumors and other cancerous tumors that have appeared in recent medical studies. These tumors can either be benignant, an acute case that is non-cancerous or malignant, a cancerous case that will need intense treatment over an extended period of time.While many would say there is more of a

Brain tumours (BT) is common in childhood, which is approximately 3.3 per 100,000 per year (Butler, 2005). As technology develops and medical advances, paediatric cancer survivor were able to live longer than five years. However, there are late effects that can cause the ability to learn like normal kids. Stephanie Satariano had research the late effects of brain tumours that pediatric cancer survivors have experience growing up and difficulties. These difficulties effects the survivor socially, emotionally, psychically and also impact his or her ability to develops, learns, and wellbeing.