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Childhood cancer 

 

 

 Did you know that 1 in 2 people in the UK will get cancer in their lifetime? Or that cancer affects Affe approximately 400,000 people annually? September is childhood cancer awareness month and in honour of that here is everything you need to know about childhood cancer.

What is childhood cancer? 

Cancer is the uncontrollable division or abnormal growth of cells in the body, that can spread into different parts and impairs the individual's function over time. This happens when these abnormal cells accumulate to form a tumor which can damage the function of healthy tissues if not controlled early and spread through the rest of the body through metastasis. There're 200 different types of cancer namely lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer; But the most common ones that affect children are Leukaemia (which is a type of cancer that affects bone marrow and blood cells producing tissues ) , lymphomas (which is a type of cancer that mainly affects the lymphatic system part of the immune system it occurs when lymphocytes or White blood cells divide abnormally)and nervous system tumors. Childhood cancer is typically defined as cancer or group of cancers that affects children from the age of infancy through late teenage hood years ( 0-19)

Facts about childhood Cancer ?

    · In high income countries where more services and medical attention is accessible  more than 80% of children with cancer are cured but in low/middle income countries less than 30% are cured ( which means the likelihood of survival depends on the level of development the child lives in ); Moreover the incidence of childhood cancer type varies by socio-economic development as more developed countries are at higher risk of getting central nervous system cancer , leukaemia , germ cell Tumors whilst in the less developed countries incidence of soft tissue sarcomas , retinoblastoma , is higher .

·       

      ··· Childhood cancer can't be/ is rarely identified by screening.

          ·   Cancer is leading cause of death in children & adolescents

           ·    It's considered rare but 1 in 285 children will develop cancer before the age of 20 and sadly 1 in 7 kids who are diagnosed won't survive

           ·        Cancer is one of the difficult diseases to diagnose

           ·        47 children are diagnosed with cancer every day

           ·       Through 2020 only 6 new FDA  approved drugs were made for childhood cancer.

           ·        10 is the average age of childhood cancer Diagnosis

Causes of childhood cancer

Cancer generally affects people of all ages but unlike adulthood cancer which may be caused by smoking, not getting enough sleep , poor diet , environmental changes and gene mutation ; the cause for childhood cancer isn't clearly known but here are some of risk factors strongly associated with likelihood of developing childhood cancer

·        Genetic and chromosomal changes : some children might inherit genetic mutation from parents that causes them to develop cancer but that isn't very common

·        Prior cancer infection and it's treatments : childhood cancer treatments are linked with developing primary cancer

·        Exposure to radiation: like CT scans, UV light have significant risk of developing childhood cancer or other conditions that may cause cancer like melanoma ( epithelial tumours)

·        Inherent risk factors like :birth weight , parents age and anomalities are associated with pediatric /childhood cancer

·        Getting infected by other types of viruses like Epstein Barr virus in Africa & HIV can cause certain types of factors like Burkitt's lymphoma & Kaposi sarcoma respectively

Struggles of childhood Cancer

·        Financial shortcomings for treatment

     ·  Cancer survivors tend to experience fatigue , pain, poor social adjustment              and low physical activity after treatment as well as visible side effects like              hair-loss, weight loss or gain , paleness of skin colour which may cause                  inferiority complex due to the fear of being perceived negatively by other                 children or surrounding people

    ·        It also causes psychological and emotional distress on parents

    ·        Children with cancer also experience PTSD(post traumatic stress disorder)         & academic difficulties due to their inability to keep up with School Work

    ·        It's proven to have negative effects on the brain's function like attention, memory and language comprehention which leads to depression anxiety and stress

·        Constant  fear of relapse as a study made by national center of biotechnology stated that out of the 156 patients that the study included , 16.7% or 26 relapsed

                 ·        Inadequate funding for childhood cancer research

Can childhood cancer be prevented ?

· Even-though it's extremely unlikely that something could've been done to prevent the said trajectory , there're some protective measures that can be given to children

     ·        Wearing sun protection (SPF) when under the sun to prevent skin Cancer

     ·        Getting kids vaccinated against HPV ( human hapillo-virus ) to prevent cancer transmitted through sex ( even-though extremely un-common it's better to be cautious to prevent it from happening in the future )

     ·        Awaring kids about smoking (to prevent lung cancer ) ,keeping a good diet to strengthen the immune system , exercising and keeping a healthy weight 

      ·        Even-though childhood cancer can't be identified via screening (unless on rare cases ) screening at an early age is a good measure to take just in case Cancer Prevention Starts in Childhood | Cancer | CDC

Treatment of childhood Cancer

Treatment of childhood cancer includes  

· surgery

      · Radiation therapy

    · Chemotherapy 

    · Stem- cells transplant

    · Targeted therapy etc

Official aid links

Donate and help a little solider in combat!

Childhood cancer donation - St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (stjude.org)

Donate | American Cancer Society

Home - National Pediatric Cancer Foundation (nationalpcf.org)

 


 

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