September is the official month for Childhood Cancer Awareness, but there are several other types of cancer that are also highlighted next month, so I decided to feature Childhood Cancer Awareness on this website in August. The following information was taken from the www.candlelighters.org website:

Treatment of childhood cancer is one of modern medicine's success stories. Thirty years ago, few children with cancer lived, but now almost 75% are cured of their disease. However, for the 250,000 survivors of childhood cancer living in the U.S., life can come at a high price. The surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy used to cure children sometimes affects growing bodies and developing minds.

Survivors of childhood cancer have an eleven times higher mortality rate than the general population, researchers in the U.S. and five Scandinavian countries recently discovered (July 1, 2001, Journal of Clinical Oncology). This study quantifies what families of survivors have known for years: problems can arise long after the cure.

Some examples of late effects after cure from childhood cancer are:
• Breast cancer at an early age in female Hodgkin's survivors who received radiation to their chest when children or adolescents. Their risk is about 15 to 20 times that of their peers who have not had Hodgkin's disease.
• Heart disease after treatment with chemotherapy (anthracyclines) or high-dose chest radiation.
• Learning disabilities in survivors treated with radiation and/or chemotherapy to the brain.
• Second cancers related to chemotherapy drugs or radiation used to cure the first cancer. Survivor’s risk is over 6 times that of their peers who have not had childhood cancer.
• Symptoms of posttraumatic stress syndrome in survivors and their parents.
• Infection with the hepatitis C virus in survivors who received transfusions prior to 1992.

Most of the survivors of childhood cancer in this country do not get follow-up care from physicians familiar with the range of potential late effects. In fact, few oncologists specialize in the late effects after cancer, and there are simply not enough of them to care for the many thousands of children who survive every year. Therefore, survivors and their families are in desperate need of accurate information. Please go to www.candlelighters.org to find out how you can help raise awareness for Childhood Cancer treatment.