Cancer and Childhood are two of them.
Unfortunately, childhood cancer is real. Every day, kids are being diagnosed with cancer. Every day, kids are dying, because of cancer.
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
Childhood cancer really is something you need to experience to fully understand. You can't explain the emotions; the worry, the fear, the anxiety and the relief you feel, unless you have felt them. We're glad that so many people will never really understand.
Recently, we received some awesome news; Dexter is in remission. There is no trace of his hepatoblastoma cancer cells. He has remained cancer clear for five years. Five is a magical number. After five years, the chances of his hepatoblastoma returning are very, very small. Dexter beat hepatoblastoma!
**We know that his chemotherapy treatments have significantly increased his chances of developing a form of leukaemia, but we try to keep that knowledge as a small bundle of worry, tucked in to the back of our minds.
Not all children are as lucky as Dexter. Not all families are as lucky as ours.
We vividly remember the days when a family lost a child, in a hospital bed near ours. We remember the child and we remember the families. We think of them, at times, and hope they are ok.
Childhood cancer doesn't discriminate. It doesn't care about religion or ethnicity. Childhood cancer doesn't care if you're rich and famous.
Childhood cancer rips families apart and changes things; forever.
More boys are diagnosed with cancer, than girls. And, a third of the cases are in children aged between 0 and 4 years old.
That's Dexter.
Australia loses about three children a week, to cancer.
Worldwide, we lose about 1,500 children a week.
The Australian Government Children's Cancer statistics are a little different. They include children from ages 0-14. They suggested 650 children would be diagnosed with cancer, in 2016.
Their statistics also showed a higher incidence in males and the majority of cancers being diagnosed in children aged four and younger.
Survival rates for many childhood cancers have improved, over the years.
Survival rates for some cancers have not changed.
Many childhood cancer survivors face other problems in later life, because of the treatments used to beat their cancers.
Children in less developed and poorer nations have lower survival rates, because detection is often later or medical treatment is not as easy to access. We are very lucky to be living in Australia.
There's nothing good about childhood cancer.
Children with bald heads are just a tiny part of life with childhood cancer.
We hate childhood cancer.
We will always live with a niggling worry, deep in the back of our minds.
You can't unsee the things childhood cancer makes you see.
You can't forget the sounds and the fears.
Dexter is in remission, but we will be forever changed, because of our walk in the world of childhood cancer.
We do know how lucky we are.
We send strength and hope to the children fighting.
We remember the kids we shared hospital wards with, who never went home.
We remember the people who are no longer here.
We'll never forget.
We wish we didn't need to acknowledge Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
Thankfully, Dexter is in remission, so... here's a quick video, to help us acknowledge Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
#raisingawareness #hepatoblastoma
Thanks, Mum and Dad
No Egg
End of Chemo – 1 Year Anniversary
Hepatoblastoma
Chemotherapy
Finding Out & Starting Treatment
Dexter’s Hepatoblastoma
Dexter’s Cancer Story
Done!
See the Cancer?
Lizard
Dexter's First Month
Dexter's Vision
Dexter's Cerebral Palsy
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