“Any time a child is diagnosed with cancer, it affects every family member and nearly every aspect of the family’s life” – ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology)
How does cancer begin?
Types of cancers
The types of cancers that occur most often in children are different from those seen in adults. The most common cancers of children are:
- Leukemia
- Brain and other central nervous system tumors
- Neuroblastoma
- Wilms tumor
- Lymphoma (including both Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin)
- Retinoblastoma
- Bone cancer (including osteosarcoma and
- Ewing sarcoma)
Leukemias are the most common cancers in children!
Leukemias, which are cancers of the bone marrow and blood, are the most common childhood cancers. They account for about 30% of all cancers in children.
Central Nervous System tumors are the 2nd most common cancers in children!
Brain and central nervous system tumors are the second most common cancers in children, making up about 26% of childhood cancers.
About Wilms tumor
Wilms tumor (also called nephroblastoma) starts in one, or rarely, both kidneys. It is most often found in children about 3 to 4 years old, and is uncommon in children older than age 6.
Neuroblastoma
Neuroblastoma starts in early forms of nerve cells found in a developing embryo or fetus. About 6% of childhood cancers are neuroblastomas. This type of cancer occurs in infants and young children.
Causes of cancers
- People can inherit damaged DNA. DNA damage is caused by mistakes that happen while a normal cell is reproducing or by something in our environment
Risk factors for cancer
Risk factors can be congenital- inherited like the retinoblastoma gene or acquired in failure of copying the DNA while cell division and replication is ongoing.
Symptoms
Common symptoms can include
- An unusual lump or swelling
- Unexplained paleness and loss of energy
- Easy bruising
- An ongoing pain in one area of the body
- Limping
- Unexplained fever or illness that doesn’t go away
- Frequent headaches, often with vomiting
- Sudden eye or vision changes
- Sudden unexplained weight loss
These may be due to
- The primary site of the disease.
- The site of spread.
- The growth on other parts of the body – the adjacent organs.
It is important to know that it is extremely unlikely there is anything you or your child could have done to prevent it.
Cancers in children can be hard to recognize right away because early symptoms are often like those caused by much more common illnesses or injuries.
Treatment
Treatment;
Usually treatment is carried out by different members of the medical and non medical team including:
Pediatric oncologists (childhood cancer doctors)
Surgeons
Radiation oncologists
Pathologists
Pediatric oncology nurses, and nurse practitioners
Psychologists
Religious leaders
Common treatment modalities include
Surgery
Radiation therapy
Chemotherapy
So what’s the way out?
There are things we can do which include
To be very observant of our children particularly when taking their bath.
we should not expose them to smoke of tobacco or the generator unnecessarily.
Majority of children that present early will do better in treatment than those that present late. Early presentation is common in parents that spend time with their children, observe them at play and during interaction with others and in their school work.
Retinoblastoma, for example presents as cat eye reflex and the care giver observes that the child’e eye is like that of a cat – early while in late presentation the eye will be pushed out of the eye socket.
if the parents smoke the child should not be exposed to it as well as petroleum products.
Indomie maggi can not cause cancer. the cause of cancer are generally the changes to the DNA as a result of mutation. These are like when a car suddenly develops a fault on the high way or has a factory problem. The smoke from fire wood is dangerous in numerous ways – it contains hydrocarbons that overtime can cause accident in the replication of genes incthe growing child. It can cause pulmonary disease, it can trigger asthma; this will result in cancer not immediately but as the child grows up. The kind of exposure to chemicals like fertilizers, rubber industries to dyes could result in the damage to DNA that can lead to cancer.
Picture credit: https://www.childrenshospitaloakland.org/main/dawson-cancer-story.aspx