September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness month.
“Childhood cancer is a rare occurrence, thank God. It affects about five in 100,000,” Dr. Mohamad Al-Rahawan said. He’s a Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist at Covenant.
“The majority of the pediatric cancers happen in the blood or the brain,” he said.
Dr. Al-Rahawan said cure rates are increasing.
“Every year brings new technologies, new medications, new supportive care, that makes cure and survival much more likely,” he said “That only happens with support from people and government to allow pediatric cancer research to happen.”
“I think it’s the unknown, and it’s different for every kid going through it,” Julie Dossey said. Her 6-year-old daughter, Brooklyn, was diagnosed with a rare kidney cancer.
“We thought Brooklyn had strep throat on February 8th, took her to the kids clinic,” Dossey said.
She said the strep test came back negative, and the doctor felt a mass in her stomach, telling Dossey that Brooklyn needed an x-ray.
Brooklyn had a tumor the size of a youth football removed, followed by radiation and chemotherapy.