Elephants and Tea - September 2019 - 26

Survivorship

CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
shrink the tumor, doctors were able to remove
most of it during a long, complicated second
surgery. After that surgery, I had more radiation treatments, and I began two years of
chemotherapy. At the time that I was diagnosed, the severity, location and advancement
of the tumor made my cancer very difficult to
treat successfully, and I was given a fairly low
survival rate. However, a new, experimental
chemotherapy protocol was presented as an
option that could raise my odds of survival.
The only part of my cancer treatments that
I remember is chemotherapy because of the
brutal nausea. Furthermore, I did not have a
port, so each chemotherapy treatment typically
consisted of multiple needles sticks to hit a
vein; once, it took seven tries! My last chemotherapy treatment was on my 3rd birthday,
and after a barrage of testing to determine the
success or failure of the cancer treatments, my
oncologist said: "What can I say, everything
looks just great. She is one of the few lucky ones.
Sometimes it really works." He then brought in
other medical professionals to show them what
a "success" looked like, since so few children
survived a cancer diagnosis at that time.
The treatments worked, and at the age of
eight, I was finally pronounced cancer-free!

Lessons Learned from a
Childhood Cancer Survivor

A

s a long-term childhood cancer survivor with numerous late effects, I
have had 39 years of experience in the medical field...as a patient. As
many of us know, life consists of doctor appointments, blood work,
diagnostic tests, procedures, surgeries and more. All of this can be
incredibly difficult, exhausting and depressing, but I have learned
some important and valuable life lessons as a childhood cancer survivor.
On June 6, 1980 at the age of one, doctors found a large tumor that occupied
the entire right side of my chest. The tumor grew out of my spine, wrapped
around part of my heart, and pushed against my trachea and lungs, making
it difficult to breathe. After several misdiagnoses, doctors diagnosed me with
neuroblastoma, which is a type of childhood cancer that consists of a solid
tumor originating in nerve cells. Neuroblastoma is the most common type of
childhood cancer in infants and children under the age of five, as well as the
leading cause of cancer-related deaths in this age range.
My first surgery was done immediately, but the tumor was too large and
intricately involved to remove. After several rounds of radiation treatments to

26

ELEPHANTSANDTEA.COM
SEPTEMBER 2019

I am so appreciative that I survived, but it is
important to note that although childhood
cancer occurs during childhood, the effects of
it can last a lifetime. My cancer and treatments
left me with numerous secondary medical
effects, also called late effects because they
can occur months to many years after cancer
treatments. My late effects consist of around
100 different diseases, disorders and medical conditions. I have also had 44 surgeries
and I am at risk for eight different secondary
cancers. Furthermore, I suffer from chronic,
excruciating bone, muscle and nerve pain in
my neck, upper and lower back, and cancer
scar area. The pain is from the cancer and
radiation, severe scoliosis and multiple back
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Elephants and Tea - September 2019

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