We don't focus on it!
At Camp Quality lots of kids are living with cancer, but we
don't focus on it. We're too busy having fun. If you do need to
know about it, here is a little information that might be
helpful.
What's cancer?
Cancer is a group of many related diseases that all have to do
with cells. Cells make up all living things, including the human
body. There are billions of cells in each person's body.
Cancer is caused when some cells are not normal and grow
and spread very fast. Normal body cells grow and divide and know
when to stop growing. Over time, they also die. Unlike these normal
cells, cancer cells just continue to grow and divide out of control
and don't die. They can get so out of hand that they start taking
over and killing healthy cells.
Cancer cells usually group or clump together to form
tumours (say: tu-mers). A growing tumour becomes a
lump of cancer cells that can destroy the normal cells around the
tumour and damage the body's healthy tissues. This can make someone
very sick. However, tumours can sometimes be benign, meaning
non-cancerous.
Sometimes cancer cells break away from the original tumour and
travel to other areas of the body, where they keep growing and can
go on to form new tumours. This is how cancer spreads.
What causes it?
You probably know a kid who had chickenpox - maybe even you. But
you probably don't know any kids who've had cancer. If you packed a
large football stadium with kids, probably only one child in that
stadium would have cancer.
Doctors aren't sure why some people get cancer and others don't.
They do know that cancer is not contagious. You can't catch cancer
from someone else who has it. Cancer isn't caused by germs, like
colds or the flu. So don't be afraid of kids or anyone
else with cancer. You can talk to, play with and hug someone
with cancer.
Kids can't get cancer from anything they do either. Some kids
think that a bump on the head causes brain cancer or that bad
people get cancer. This isn't true! Kids don't do anything wrong to
get cancer.
Finding out about cancer
It can take a while for a doctor to figure out a kid has cancer.
That's because the symptoms cancer can cause, such as weight loss,
fevers, swollen glands, or feeling overly tired or sick for a
while, may not be caused by cancer. When a kid has these
symptoms it can be because of something less serious, like an
infection. With medical testing, the doctor can figure out what's
causing the trouble.
If the doctor suspects cancer, he or she can do tests to figure
out if that's the problem. A doctor might order x-rays and blood
tests and recommend the person go to see an
oncologist (say: on-kol-uh-jist). An oncologist is
a doctor who takes care of and treats cancer patients. The
oncologist will run other tests to find out if someone really has
cancer. If so, tests can determine what kind of cancer it is and if
it has spread to other parts of the body. Based on the results, the
doctor will decide the best way to treat it.
One test that an oncologist (or a surgeon) may perform is a
biopsy (say: by-op-see). During a biopsy a piece
of tissue is removed from a tumour or a place in the body where
cancer is suspected, like the bone marrow. Don't worry - someone
getting this test will get special treatment to keep him or
her comfortable during the biopsy. After the sample is collected,
it will be examined under a microscope for cancer cells. The sooner
cancer is found and treatment begins, the better chance someone has
of recovery.
Treating it
Cancer is treated with surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation - or
sometimes a combination of these treatments. The choice of
treatment depends on:
- the type of cancer someone has (the kind of abnormal cells
causing the cancer)
- the stage of the tumour (how much the cancer has spread within
the body, if at all)
Surgery is the oldest form of treatment for cancer. Three out of
every five people with cancer will have an operation to remove the
cancer. During surgery the doctor tries to take out as many cancer
cells as possible. Some healthy cells or tissue may also be removed
to make sure the cancer is gone.
Chemotherapy (say: kee-mo-ther-uh-pee) is the
use of anti-cancer medicines to treat cancer. These medicines are
sometimes taken as a pill, but are usually given through a special
intravenous (say: in-truh-vee-nus) line, also
called an IV. An IV is a tiny catheter (straw-like tube) that is
put into a vein through someone's skin, usually on the arm. The
catheter is attached to a bag that holds the medicine. The medicine
flows from the bag into a vein, which puts the medicine into the
blood, where it can travel throughout the body and attack cancer
cells.
Chemotherapy is usually given over a number of weeks or
months. Often, a permanent catheter is placed under the skin into a
larger blood vessel of the upper chest. This way, a person can
easily get several courses of chemotherapy and other medicines
through this catheter without having a new IV needle put in. The
catheter remains under the skin until all the cancer treatment is
completed.
Radiation (say: ray-dee-ay-shun) therapy uses
high-energy waves, such as x-rays (invisible waves that can pass
through most parts of the body), to damage and destroy cancer
cells. Radiation can cause tumours to shrink and sometimes to
even go away completely.
Radiation therapy is one of the most common treatments for
cancer. For many people, cancer goes away after receiving radiation
treatments. With both chemotherapy and radiation, kids may
experience side effects. A side effect can be an extra
problem that's caused by a treatment. Radiation and
anti-cancer drugs can destroy cancer cells but, unfortunately,
they often destroy healthy cells too. This can cause problems
such as loss of appetite, tiredness, vomiting, or hair loss.
With radiation, a person might have red or irritated skin in the
area that's being treated. All these problems go away and hair
grows back after the treatment is over. During the treatment, there
are medicines that can help a kid feel better.
While treatment is still going on, a kid might not be able to
attend school or be around crowds of people because they need
to rest and can't risk getting infections, such as the flu, when he
or she already isn't feeling well.
Getting better
Remission (say: ree-mih-shun) is a great word
for anyone who has cancer. It means all signs of cancer are gone
from the body. After surgery or treatment with radiation or
chemotherapy, a doctor will then do tests to see if the cancer is
still there. If there are no signs of cancer, then the kid is in
remission.
Remission is the goal when any kid with cancer goes to the
hospital for treatment. Sometimes, this means extra chemotherapy
might be needed for a while to keep cancer cells from coming back.
And luckily, for many kids, continued remission is the very happy
end of their cancer experience.
How does Camp Quality help kids with cancer?
We're there for the whole journey, from diagnosis, through
treatment and remission. We meet you in hospital, we can visit your
school with our puppets, we take you away from it all on our famous
camps, and sometimes if your family needs help with other things,
your local CQ office can step in to create a burst of sunshine when
it is needed most!
Once you have checked out our programs get your family to join
the CQ family!