Childhood Cancer: What Parents Need to Know

Cancer is a frightening diagnosis, especially when it has to do with your children. While paediatric cancer is rare, it remains a leading cause of death by disease in children. Parents may respond quickly and give their child the best care possible if they are aware of the most prevalent forms, early warning indicators, treatment variations, and available resources.

Most Common Types of Childhood Cancers

• Childhood leukaemia: About 30% of occurrences are childhood leukemia, making it the most prevalent type. The two primary forms are acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
• Neuroblastoma: A nerve cell cancer that commonly affects newborns and young children is called neuroblastoma.
• Brain and spinal cord tumours: Gliomas and medulloblastomas are among the second most prevalent types of brain and spinal cord tumours in children.
• Wilms Tumour: Children under five are most commonly affected by Wilms tumour, a kind of kidney cancer.
• Lymphomas: Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas are included under lymphoma, which affects immune cells and lymph nodes.

Early Warning Signs of Pediatric Cance

Early symptom recognition can lead to better results. Keep an eye out for:

• Unexplained weight loss or fatigue
• Persistent fevers or infections
• Easy bruising or bleeding
• Lumps or swelling (especially in the abdomen, neck, or limbs)
• Frequent headaches or vomiting (especially in the morning)
• Sudden vision changes or eye abnormalities
• Bone or joint pain that doesn’t improve

How Childhood Cancer Treatment Differs

• Higher Chemo Sensitivity: Paediatric cancers often respond better to chemotherapy.
• Focus on Long-Term Effects: Since children’s bodies are still developing, doctors aim to minimise late effects like organ damage or secondary cancers.
• Clinical Trials: To increase survival rates, many childhood cancer treatments entail specialised trials.
• Supportive Care: For young patients, psychological, pain, and nutritional support are crucial.

Emotional and Family Support

A paediatric cancer diagnosis sends ripples of emotional, logistical, and financial strain through the entire family unit. Proactively building a robust support system is a critical part of the care regimen, essential for sustaining everyone through the long journey of treatment and recovery. Professional counselling serves as the foundation for coping, offering far more than simple advice. In order to make parents more present and capable caretakers, it entails systematic therapy with mental health professionals who offer a secure environment for processing strong emotions as well as strategies to avoid burnout. Therapy helps siblings, often referred to as "shadow survivors", process feelings of fear and neglect in a healthy way, minimising emotional scarring over time. Child life specialists utilise therapeutic play to help patients regain control and demystify processes. Connecting with online and in-person support groups is similar to discovering your tribe. This connection immediately lessens the experience's extreme loneliness while offering unmatched warmth and validation. Besides being invaluable repositories of useful knowledge, these groups offer guidance on everything from handling insurance to managing side effects. They also give families real hope by matching them with people who are farther along in the process. Within the chaos, maintaining routine acts as an essential anchor for a child.  Important stability and predictability are maintained by maintaining recognisable routines, such as regular mealtimes, bedtime stories, or online classes. This endeavour supports the child's identity outside of that of a patient and aids in fostering normal growth. Lastly, one of the most effective survival skills is learning to ask for and accept help. To avoid caregiver burnout and deal with significant practical difficulties, it is essential to actively delegate activities, such as cooking, cleaning, or running errands. By enabling friends and relatives to offer significant support and forming a genuine "village" around the family during times of need, this vulnerability also fortifies ties within the community.