Pediatric Cancer Research Paper

‘“Cancer is like a home invasion, once it has invaded your life you will never feel safe again”’ (Adal yn's... 6). Cancer wipes out what a family knew before cancer; it wipes out their version of normal and replaces it with something that can not be controlled. When childhood cancer takes a hold of the family and never lets go. While going through cancer, it is important that a family sticks together and builds each other up through this difficult time. Childhood cancer affects everyone it comes in contact with, but it mainly affects the family, including the child suffering from cancer, as well as the parents or caregiver and siblings.

When it comes to cancer, so much of the world’s knowledge is based on statistics. For example, each day forty-six children, or more than two full classrooms of kids, are diagnosed with cancer and one out of every three hundred thirty people will develop cancer before the age of twenty. The simplest and most important of these statistics is this, “Cancer is the number one cause of death by disease in children.” Pediatric cancer takes the lives of more people than the number of children who die from asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and pediatric AIDS combined! About one thousand three hundred and eighty children are expected to die from cancer this year alone. Although the cure rate of children with cancer is steadily increasing for most childhood cancers over the past five years, the number of children who will die is overwhelming and unacceptable.

According to the American Cancer Society, there are sixteen major types of childhood cancers and over 100 subtypes. Leukemia and Lymphoma cancer are the most common cancers that children get at a young age. Everyday forty-six kids are diagnose with childhood cancer and seven children die every day. Childhood cancer kills more kids than Cystic Fibrosis, AIDS, and asthma combined! The worst part about childhood cancer is that the treatment side affects can last a lifetime for these kids. People do not understand that childhood cancer only gets a small percentage of the budget for all cancers. National Cancer Institute budget is around $4.9 billion and only 4% of that sum goes towards childhood cancer.

With this is a copy of my justification report on the subject of funding and support of research in pediatric cancer and assisting poor parents of children suffering from cancer. This statement is a review of my findings from the most recent year of working in X Cancer Specialty Center, and a separate research that other researchers have conducted outside the center. This paper will be useful in justifying the funding of extensive research in pediatric cancer, and the necessity to assist parents of the cancer patients to meet medical costs. I have completed this report at no cost to the organization, and I carried out and completed this research during off hours.

Every 3 minutes a child under the age of 15 is diagnosed with cancer worldwide. (150,000 p.a.) 1

St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center that denies no child. It is a place where families do not have to pay for treatments and services that are not covered by insurance. It helped raise the overall survival rate of pediatric cancer from 20% to more than 70% (GuideStar, n.d.). Some of their goals are to continue to increase the cure rates for pediatric cancer in the United States; to reduce acute and long-term morbidity that are associated with pediatric cancer treatment; to lead the way in the prevention and control of pediatric cancer; and to advance research and treatment of pulmonary infectious diseases and non-malignant hematological diseases (GuideStar, n.d.). St. Jude is also the first National Cancer Institute-designated

This charity programs have traditionally been built on three parts; reducing the financial barriers to treatment, support systems to soften the family stress that’s linked with transplantation or cancer treatment, and developed with the opening of the Kids Beating Cancer Pediatric Transplant Center. Kids Beating Cancer Pediatric is an exceptional facility providing treatment for children needing transplants to survive their disease. Kids Beating Cancer removes barriers to treatment for children with cancer, leukemia, and sickle cell. Parents seek their services in need of a marrow or stem cell transplant providing support for the families as they facing a challenging situation towards a cure. They also provides the pre-transplant testing

Out of 100,000 children 32.1 cancer diagnoses occur in the age group 0-14, 138.6 occur in the 15-39 age group, and 2,053.8 occur in 40 and older (cancer.gov). Pediatric cancer, being so rare, makes research and development hard to fund because there are not many eligible participants for each specific trial. This creates a “Catch 22” by having a good societal support system, yet not having enough “return-on-investment” (Milne). Pediatric cancer is the leading cause of death in children after accidents, however the amount of deaths has lower drastically in recent years. The mortality rate as a whole has decreased by fifty percent in the last thirty years, however for patients with cancers other than lymphoma or leukemia the mortality rate has not declined since 1996 (Analysis of the National Cancer Institute’s Investment). Lymphoma and leukemia are the most common cancers that children are diagnosed with, but there are many more that can occur that need new research in order to discover ways to decrease the current mortality rate. In 1960 it was discovered that leukemia could be treated by “combination chemotherapy and dose intensity” this brought the curability up from 10% before this discovery to 80% by the 1990s (Norris and Adamson). Although this treatment has been successful for leukemia patients, the most common of childhood cancers, it is not as successful with other types of cancer. There are currently clinical trials that take place to begin trying to find treatments or cure for pediatric cancer, however because of lack of funding many of the trials do not continue or never really take off. Due to the lack of funding and efforts put forth into research for pediatric cancer more the 2,500 children die in America every year (thetruth365.org). Children diagnosed with cancer deserve more work to be put into finding a cure so they can go on to live long, happy

The symptoms of Post-traumatic stress can vary from patient from patient. Most common symptoms are flashbacks, hyper arousal and avoidance. The first article is “Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Adolescent Survivors of Childhood Cancer and Their Families: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” In this article the researchers put together a random wait list control trial. They would have an intervention with the family of a cancer survivor that had post-traumatic stress symptoms from the family and child. The most common psychological consequences of childhood cancer survivors and their mother and fathers are posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). When patients have re-experiencing symptoms they usually have flashbacks. They relive the trauma over and over, including physical symptoms like their heart racing, sweating and even horrible dreams. Hyper arousal symptoms is when the patient is easily startled. Then lastly avoidance symptoms is when people diagnosed with Post Traumatic stress disorder stay away from places or objects that remind them of their trauma. In conclusion none of these symptoms seem good at all so the research in this field needs to continue to grow to put a stop to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Young patients and their families who are diagnosed with childhood cancer have a very difficult time coping with the situation at hand. Due to the overwhelming feeling of uncertainty it is pivotal that all health care members are involved in the promotion of quality of life in the hospital settings and in their home. Nurses especially are given the opportunity with each interaction to help a patient and their families find ways to cope with their diagnosis. The purpose of this article is to discuss how uncertainty decreases coping mechanisms and what interventions are implemented to effectively cope and adapt to their diagnosis.

Adolescents diagnosed with cancer face many challenges. A diagnosis of cancer for an adolescent is difficult not only because of the cancer and everything that goes along with it, but also because of the unique aspects of social and psychological development that they are experiencing in this time of their life. Adolescence is difficult enough without the added difficulties of a cancer diagnosis. Evidence suggests that people who undergo cancer treatment as teenagers and young adults experience greater difficulties adjusting than their peers. For example, survivors often experience challenges with social relationships and mental health, are less likely to attend college, and less likely to attain gainful

I believe the Pediatric Oncology Education program will provide me with different standpoints on cancer research outside of what I have previously experienced. In my previous labs I have worked with brain cancer and skin cancer. However, I have not experienced working with other types of cancer and their potential treatment ideas. This expansion of my understanding of cancer effecting the body overall may allow for future conclusions, ideas, and projects. Additionally, working for St. Jude provides excellent research environment and interactions with mentors that may have a huge impact on my career

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

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

Cancer, one of the most feared words in our vocabulary of this time, especially in childhood (Druker 1). Most people when thinking of “childhood cancer” envision very young children, although a “Nation Institute of Health Policy concerning inclusion of children in clinical research defines children as being younger than twenty-one years of age while the Food and Drug Administration considers children to be fifteen years and younger” (Ries 158). That being said, most cancers incidence peak among children occurs during the first year of life (Gurney 149). Some of the most well-known nationwide childhood cancers are leukemia, brain cancer, and other central nervous system cancers (oeconline 1). In conjunction, “the side effects of treatment,