Contact magazine: Normality and childhood cancer

Adapting to life after treatment can be difficult, and patients and their families may experience a range of different emotions as a result.

Sarah Mcdonald’s daughter Summer was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2012. She writes on what life looked like for Summer’s sister, Kya, during treatment.

Dr Martin English, Consultant Paediatric Oncologist at Birmingham Children's Hospital and CCLG member writes...

Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham and CCLG member, talks to us about her work

Dr Rob Jobe is a clinical psychologist at Health in Mind, Birmingham Children’s Hospital. He spoke to parents about some of the emotions they experienced during their child’s cancer journey and offers advice on managing such feelings.

Catrin Bayliss is a health play specialist at Cardiff and Vale UHB.

Sam Behjati divides his time between clinical work at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge and research at the nearby Wellcome Sanger Institute.

Helen Ball’s daughter Emily has recently finished treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Helen tells us about what life has looked like for her family since Emily’s diagnosis, and how nature and the outdoors has helped them.

Steph Hall is a senior children’s cancer nurse at Leeds Children’s Hospital (LCH). She tells us what life looked like on a children’s cancer ward before COVID, what it’s looked like during the pandemic, and what it’s looking like now.

Louise Campbell, 30, remembers how her parents tried to maintain some normality during her leukaemia treatment. As an expectant mother, she also explains how she now finds herself looking back on her own childhood with a different perspective.

Chloe Hunt was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2010. She describes the challenges she faced adapting to a ‘new normal’ both during and after treatment, and how she overcame them.

Dr Ed Cheeseman, Consultant Paediatric Pathologist and Chair of CCLG’s Biological Studies Steering Group, explains the difference between ‘normal’ cells and cancer cells, how the latter develop, and what they do to the body.

Valerie Tomlin is a children’s cancer nurse at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.

This year, a new cancer statistics report for children, teenagers and young adults was published. This is the first report for almost a decade covering the whole of the UK and the first that covers both children’s and teenage and young adult cancers. With input from CCLG professional members, the report was shared at our Winter Meeting in February, and will help us to understand progress in the management of these cancers. Here are some key figures from the report: