Survived Cancer, Want Job

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Posted By: brymarbuch @ 02/14/2008 7:19:25 PM

This column really hit home for me since my daughter is a pediatric brain tumor survivor and she graduates from high school this June. What happens next has been on my mind a lot lately. The treatment plan changed right before Evie was diagnosed in 1996, so her radiation dose was less than it had been but still the equivalent of over 500,000 chest x-rays. It could have been much worse, but she didn???t avoid late effects. The chemo damaged her hearing and kidney function. The radiation damaged her pituitary gland, her thyroid, and her bones. After years of daily growth hormone shots, she???s reached her adult height of a little over 5 feet tall and at age 17 is given the children???s menu in every restaurant she eats at. She takes several medications daily because of damage caused by the treatment that saved her life. She also suffers from migraines, probably due to the shunt implanted in her brain. Since headaches were the main symptom of the original tumor, she fears reoccurrence even after ten years off-treatment. Thankfully, the migraines have decreased after her recent jaw surgery for under-developed jaw ??? also from the radiation damage. She has some cognitive issues too, but she plans to go to college and become a teacher. She???s at higher risk for other ongoing health problems such as secondary cancers and fertility issues. My biggest hope for her is that she is one tough cookie! I think having three brothers has also made her a little ornery and tougher. She is self-motivated and mature beyond her years. She???s worked harder and has more determination than your average high school senior.

Let???s not forget that even though survival rates have improved, cancer is still the leading cause of death by disease for children in the U.S. We lost several of our cancer buddies during treatment. A local family we know lost two sons. Over 12,500 kids are diagnosed with childhood cancer every year and incidence rates increased from 1975 through 2002. Improving survival rates is very important, but it isn???t good enough, researchers must improve survivability and find better ways to defeat cancer so that survivors don???t suffer as much long term damage. We must continue to support research. Sadly, in the last few years, government funding for research has been cut. .

My daughter sees an endocrinologist and neurologist regularly; but she hasn???t seen her oncologist in years. We don???t have a late effects clinic near us. I read about possible long term effects and worry that since Evelyn isn???t followed by an oncologist we may miss something that should checked. Another concern is insurance coverage for Evie when she???s too old to be covered by us or when we???re not around. It???s not just finding jobs that childhood cancer survivors will have to deal with but finding - and keeping - health insurance and doctors that understand their special health issues. We all face obstacles, but they???re just a little bigger for su
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  Posted By: fluteophone54 @ 02/17/2008 7:33:52 PM
  
  I like your comment allot, it's allot like my situation, and different too. I???m inI know the all of the mental and physical struggles caused by cancer. I have, and had many friends with multiple brain tumors and had to go through radiation treatment. Most of these friends were made at a camp for cancer patients and their siblings, and it???s because of them I am who I am today. Except for the few exceptions of people who had cancer or a tumor for only a few months and only stayed in the hospital for a few weeks, cancer almost always has negative affects. But you know what? There is something we have that other people don???t, an extreme amount of determination and passion to succeed and I feel that overpowers the negative side to cancer. But that still doesn???t mean that I don???t need some help figuring out how to overcome my problems that interfere with my school and work. I know my situation isn???t the same as Evelyn???s, but I know for a fact that because of what she has gone through she is more likely to change something in the world than most her peers in her graduating class.
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    Posted By: brymarbuch @ 02/19/2008 9:52:27 PM
    
    Thanks for your comment. I agree with you with that having cancer can make a person stronger, more determined and more passionate. Just like they say, whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger!
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  Posted By: fluteophone54 @ 02/17/2008 7:33:30 PM
  
  I like your comment allot, it's allot like my situation, and different too. I???m inI know the all of the mental and physical struggles caused by cancer. I have, and had many friends with multiple brain tumors and had to go through radiation treatment. Most of these friends were made at a camp for cancer patients and their siblings, and it???s because of them I am who I am today. Except for the few exceptions of people who had cancer or a tumor for only a few months and only stayed in the hospital for a few weeks, cancer almost always has negative affects. But you know what? There is something we have that other people don???t, an extreme amount of determination and passion to succeed and I feel that overpowers the negative side to cancer. But that still doesn???t mean that I don???t need some help figuring out how to overcome my problems that interfere with my school and work. I know my situation isn???t the same as Evelyn???s, but I know for a fact that because of what she has gone through she is more likely to change something in the world than most her peers in her graduating class.

Posted By: Snarg @ 02/18/2008 7:50:59 PM
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Insurance issue pertaining to the after-effects of treatment are one more reason why we need a compassionately administered National Single-Payer Health Program NOW. It's also the kind of thing that makes one wish that the 500-billion dollars we have spent in Iraq, so far, had been spent on more research for issues like curing more cancers and eliminating the aide effects of treatment... PNHP.org

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Posted By: dellana @ 02/12/2008 6:31:40 PM

My son was diagnosed with Leukemia at age 5. He received 3 years of Chemo in 7 months. I thanked the Lord for his survival. He has been in remission for 3 1/2 years. It wasn't until a year ago last Christmas that I began to get complaints from school about his work. Poor kid had teachers calling him 'Lazy', a mom yelling at him about his grades, and a dad that just couldn't understand why it took him 2 hours to do homework he obviously knew.

It wasn't until the school threatened to suspend this little 3rd grader for insubordination (not completing his daily assignments) that I finally said 'Enough! Something else is going on here." I started cruisin the internet and found article like this one and research papers on cognitive late effects. I went to the district superintendent and laid everything out on her desk. Now Lorenzo is getting the help he needs. I am reading him his homework and it now only takes 30 minutes for him to complete. I contacted his Oncology Doctor and enrolled him in their New 'Late Effect Clinic'.

Thanks to articles like this my son is receiving the help he needs to succeed in school and I no longer feel like the 'crazy mom'.

And you are right , these kids are 'inherently determined', Lorenzo wants to be President when he grows up!

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Posted By: CJS2009 @ 02/12/2008 2:43:56 PM

As a childhood leukemia survivor myself, I feel fortunate to not be affected by therapy related mental or physical disabilities. I am now in my fifth year of pharmacy school and face no difficulty finding a job upon graduation. A likely factor in my avoidance of disabilities is that I was diagnosed with cancer at age 15, an age at which my brain was more developed. While I am far enough out from treatment that it is improbable I will get leukemia again, it is frightening to think about the increased risk of developing other cancers that the chemotherapy that saved my life has put me in.

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Posted By: eddiewhere @ 02/12/2008 4:08:43 AM

EXCELLENT ARTICLE.

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Posted By: kcarizona @ 02/11/2008 7:07:37 AM

How about McDonalds or Safeway or Gas station as you go to night school? Or did i misinterpret a job to mean fat 3 digits or at a minimum 50g's well good luck as we modernize the check out register and send every possible job over here and there you are soon going to be fighting to work at Mcdonalds for it is one sure thing - i wish i had $ when that stock canned because i would have snatched up a grip of it and watched it float i mean come on Micky D's dying i don't think so but that was many years and lost opportunities ago. Good luck with your job search - man if i loose my job i will scrub the bottom of horse hoofs if it means an honest dollor of a sob story.