Young people who’ve had cancer are really the experts..
Survivors tell their stories of living with disease
A CHILD getting cancer is one of the most terrifying traumas any family can endure.
More are facing this diagnosis as cases among young people increases at a rate of around 1% to 2% annually.
One child is told they have cancer almost every day in Ireland.
More of them will survive the disease than ever before, but what happens after getting the all-clear?
Cancer remains the biggest disease killer of children in this country but treatments are improving all the time and now more than 85% of patients will survive. There are 6,000 adult survivors of childhood cancer estimated to be living in Ireland today.
Consultant Paediatric Oncologist Dr Sarah Curry said: “Survivors are a growing population and we have a duty to ensure the quality of survival is as good as possible and that they are supported with re-integrating into their lives.
“Many have impacts from the cancer or from the treatment and we try to support them through this, but it needs to be done in a more formalised way.”
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness
month – and it will be marked this coming Saturday with the Childhood, Adolescent, Young Adult Cancers and Survivorship Conference hosted by Canteen Ireland and Childhood Cancer Ireland.
The aim of the conference is to allow patients, survivors and their families to meet with healthcare providers and other professionals to help shape future policy and practice.
Childhood Cancer Ireland co-director Patricia Mccolgan said: “The young people who have been through cancer are the real experts.
“We need to make sure the voices of the young people with lived experience is at the heart of the discussion.”
Patricia has personal experience of the long-term impact of cancer as her son Rory, from Dublin, was just 14 when he was diagnosed with an inoperable malignant brain tumour in 2008.
She said: “He was the captain of the rugby team and a straight A student when he started getting headaches and sometimes feeling nauseous in
the morning. It was nothing dramatic, but then he came home from a school trip unable to walk properly so we took him to hospital where he was diagnosed with vertigo and sent home.”
Patricia paid for a private scan and within two hours Rory was rushed back to hospital where the family were