Criticizing The Fault in Our Stars does childhood cancer a disservice

Patient
June 9, 2014

The-Fault-in-Our-Stars

A pediatric oncologist seems to suggest we shouldn’t be getting too upset about childhood cancer because kids and teens dying or going blind “are things that we don’t typically encounter.”

“I think the important thing to realize is that cancer in children is highly treatable and ultimately curable,” Dr. Charles Hemenway of Loyola University said in HemOnc Today, in response to the movie …

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Criticizing The Fault in Our Stars does childhood cancer a disservice

Should doctors tell parents of terminal children to quit pursuing quackery?

Patient
April 13, 2014

It was only a matter of time before the name Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski would grab the attention of the family of McKenzie Lowe, a 12-year-old from Hudson, N.H., with that most damning of diagnoses, a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma,  an inoperable brain tumor with a median survival of less than a year.

Like McKenzie, my own daughter was 12-years-old with a recurring brain tumor that had started to metastasize and …

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Should doctors tell parents of terminal children to quit pursuing quackery?

From a mother: What my child’s oncologist should know

Patient
February 28, 2014

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Please let us know that we’re not alone. We realize that our doctors are not our friends, but telling us that the medical team will be sticking with us during this journey that we were never on board with, is an empowering message when we are at our most powerless.

Show us that you care about our child, too. We know that you identify our …

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From a mother: What my child’s oncologist should know