September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. But if you’re a kid with cancer, or a caregiver or loved one of that kid, you’re aware of cancer every day.
Maybe today is the start of chemo maintenance. That means fewer days in the hospital for infusions and feeling sick to your stomach.
Other kids might have finally entered remission, thanks to new therapies. They’re eager to get back to playing outside and going back to school with their friends.
Still, other children may have just found out they have leukemia or a brain tumor. Their family has started acting sad and strange. No one is smiling.
Even when it’s cured, the experience of going through chemo instead of 3rd grade or of watching your toddler lose her brand-new curls changes you for good. Having cancer as a kid means you’re always going to care about your health and your healthcare.
No matter how childhood cancer has affected you, the following resources and stories are for you. Whatever today looks like for you, you don’t have to go it alone.
At UVA Children’s, you’ll find experts in childhood cancer. Here, you’ll not only have access to the most advanced treatments. You’ll also find a team of providers wrapping you and your child with the kind of support and compassion you need to keep going.
Learn more about our pediatric cancer specialists and treatments.
Do you know the early warning signs of childhood cancer? Learn what to look for and when to take your child to the doctor.
At age 16, Madeline's unexplained pain turned out to be cancer. Her parents were unrelenting in their quest for a cure.
After over a year and a half of treatment, this family has learned how to adapt and navigate childhood cancer. Here are 6 things they'd like to share.
A child's cancer diagnosis changes everything. A Charlottesville, VA, dad reflects on the difficult year since his son's diagnosis with lymphoma.
When you first learn your child has cancer, you're filled with questions and not sure what's next. Read this advice from a parent who's been there.
8-year-old Colin's leukemia returned a year after he finished chemo. Learn how this therapy helped him regain his childhood.
Becoming the parents of a child cancer survivor wasn’t an easy road. Krissy and Rob share what they learned and wished they’d known at the start.
The HPV vaccine prevents cancer in both boys and girls, yet many parents avoid pushing for the shot, thinking that HPV is only a sexually transmitted disease. The reality is much different.
People living with cancer have a wide range of feelings about the gesture of voluntarily shaving your head for cancer support. Find out where your decision may fall.
While pediatric oncologist Daniel “Trey” Lee was working at the NIH, he tested a form of gene therapy as a possible way to save children with leukemia. Now at UVA, Lee just gave the first dose of an experimental immunotherapy to a 14-year-old with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
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