The Childhood Cancer Blog
The Childhood Cancer Blog
In 1970, an oncologist named Donald Pinkel made an extraordinary announcement: half of the children with the most common type of leukemia could now be cured. It was a landmark proclamation; for decades nearly every child with leukemia died.
The reality was more complicated. Pinkel was quick to clarify that a cure was dependent on access to treatment. Around the world, many children simply did not have access to the cutting-edge treatments of the time.
Childhood cancer treatment has come a long way, particularly in the United States. But access to treatment, research... Read More
Lauren and Brent, together, photo credit: Tony Gray
Ann with her daughter Lauren, photo credit: Kevin Kopanski
Brent, photo credit: Chris Langer
The Ramer family
One of the few professional photos that Ann Ramer has of her middle two kids, shows a smiling 15-year-old Lauren and a 17-year-old Brent. Not pictured: the IV lines tucked just out of the frame that are delivering chemotherapy to Lauren, who was in treatment for childhood cancer. It’s her fourth time—and her brother Brent’s fourth or fifth, depending on how you count the number of times his leukemia relapsed.
Ann remembers the day it was taken. She was juggling regular life for her family of six with getting Brent to the oncology clinic for a check up for his relapsed acute myeloid... Read More
Twenty-two years and six weeks ago, Alex held her last lemonade stand. Although we were surrounded by love and support, our hearts were breaking. We knew it was her last. We knew it was the beginning of the end: the end of her years of lemonade stands, the end of her battle with cancer, and the closing of the precious time we had left together.
Then on August 1, 2004, our beautiful daughter, Alexandra Scott, died. She was 8 years old.
I really didn’t think we could hold a lemonade stand without her. They were her stands, with “Alex’s” painted on the top signposts. What... Read More
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