Cancer in Children

On average, 1400 children are diagnosed with cancer each year in Canada. Cancer in children is much more uncommon than in adults, however, it is much more destructive when approximately 1 in every 5 children diagnosed with cancer don't survive. Cancer is unpredictable in children and spreads to other parts of the body faster. Cancer can be damaging to the growth of a child and will often leave long term effects on the child. Cancer survivors will need additional close monitoring even after treatments and long-term follow up care. Cancer is now the number one disease killing children and recent statistics show that cancer is the second largest cause of deaths for children in Canada. Even almost all childhood cancer survivors live with life-long health problems, because of the treatments they've had.

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Types of Cancer

The majority of Cancer cases for children (ages 0-14) are one of the following cancers: leukaemia, brain and central nervous system, and lymphomas. 

 

Leukaemia

Leukaemia begins in a cell in the bone marrow. The cell undergoes a change and becomes a type of leukaemia cell. Once the marrow cell undergoes a leukemic change, the leukaemia cells may grow and survive better than normal cells. Over time, the leukaemia cells crowd out or suppress the development of normal cells. The rate at which leukaemia progresses and how the cells replace the normal blood and marrow cells are different with each type of leukaemia.

 

Brain and Central Nervous 

A central nervous system tumour happens when cells in the brain or the spinal cord change and grow out of control. A tumour might be cancerous or it could be benign. Cancerous tumours grow and spread to other parts of the body. Benign tumours can grow but will not spread. Tumours can cause thought processes and movements to be affected. Tumours are hard to treat because of the surrounding tissues are often vital to the body’s functioning. This is even worse for children because a child's brain is still developing.

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Lymphomas

Childhood lymphomas is a type of cancer that forms in the lymph system, which is part of the body's immune system. It helps protect the body from infection and disease. 

Lymphocytes can also be found in the blood and collect in the lymph nodes, spleen, and thymus. The stomach, thyroid gland, brain, and skin have lymph tissue as well.

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