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Dr. Matt and Ariel explain cancer in an age-appropriate way. Sign up to our teaching resources for more video resources like this.
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– Hi, everyone!
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My name’s Ariel, and
I’m from Camp Quality,
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and I’m super excited to be introducing
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our special guest today.
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It’s Doctor Matt!
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– Hi Ariel. Nice to meet ya.
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– Aw, likewise.
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Hey, Dr. Matt, what
kind of doctor are you?
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– Well, I’m a pediatric oncologist.
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– Oh.
– Mm-hmm.
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– That’s a big word.
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Hey, what kind of doctor
is a pediatric oncologist?
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– Well, I’m really lucky.
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I get to look after children
and other young people
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who’ve been diagnosed with cancer.
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– Oh, cancer.
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Well, what is cancer?
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– Well, that’s a really good question.
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Cancer’s a serious illness
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that can affect children very rarely.
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And what it is,
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is when there’s growth of cells
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and other tissue in the body
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that’s not meant to be there.
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– Oh.
– And sometimes,
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there’s lots of different types of cancer,
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so it depends on what it is,
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but often it can be in the blood,
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and if it’s like that,
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people think of it kind of
like a weed in a garden.
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It’s not meant to be there,
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and it’s growing,
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and not letting the normal
flowers come through.
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– Oh.
– So it’s our job
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to give some treatment,
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to get rid of those weeds and
allow the flowers to grow.
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– Okay. Well, I mean,
can you catch cancer?
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– No. Which is good to know.
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– Oh.
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– So it’s not like a cough,
cold, or a runny nose.
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You’re not gonna catch cancer
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by hanging around
someone who’s got cancer.
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So if you know someone who has cancer,
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be that a child or an adult,
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you can still see them,
and play with them,
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and talk to them, and hug them.
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Sometimes if people have cancer, though,
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they don’t wanna catch any bugs,
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so you better make sure that you’re well.
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– Oh, okay.
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Well, how do you get cancer, then?
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– That’s a really good question, too.
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You’re full of good questions.
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– Aw, thanks, Dr. Matt!
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– Cancer happens,
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often for reasons that we
don’t quite understand.
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It’s not because of
something someone’s done,
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or not done,
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something they’ve been exposed to,
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or being naughty,
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or a bump on the head.
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Most of the time it’s just a change
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that happens in their body,
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that’s no one’s fault.
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– What does cancer look like, then?
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– Well, it depends on where it is, really.
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Cancer can be in lots of different spots.
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It can be in the brain,
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and if it’s like that
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it looks like a lump or a bump
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that you might see on a scan that we do.
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Sometimes you might have
a lump in your belly
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or in your chest,
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or it might be some funny-looking cells
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when we look at your
blood down the microscope.
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– Okay. Here’s a curly question.
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How do you know if you’ve got cancer?
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– Well, it depends.
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It’s really, depends on
what type of cancer it is.
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Sometimes people get really tired,
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or they start getting bruising.
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Sometimes people notice a lump or a bump.
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So if you’re worried about anything,
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it’s really important.
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Just have a chat to your
mom, or dad, or carer,
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and they can take it from there.
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– Oh, wow.
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Dr. Matt, you seem
really good at your job.
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Hey, what’s the best
bit about what you do?
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– Well, other than coming to talk
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to puppets like you, Ariel,
– Aw.
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– I love being able to look
after the kids that I do.
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I get to know them really well,
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and their families,
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and I force feed them photos of my dog,
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which is my other favorite thing
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to talk about.
(Ariel laughs)
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– Aw, that’s great, Dr. Matt.
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Hey, thank you so much for
spending time with us today.
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It’s been an absolute pleasure.
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– Oh, it’s a pleasure for me.
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Thank you for the invite.
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– Oh, absolutely.
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Well, this is goodbye
from us at Camp Quality.
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Bye!
– Bye.
