Childhood cancer

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After injury, childhood cancer is the second leading cause of deaths among Canadian children, that’s according to the Canadian Cancer Society. While childhood cancer is still fairly rare, there are signs that parents can look for.

Pediatric oncologist Dr. Carol Portwine says sometimes cancer can look like the flu,

“Children can present with the flu and be very sick. Much sicker then the kids I’ve seen with cancer. So really the symptoms are not related per say but if you have on-going symptoms that are not getting better it’s worthwhile to see your doctor.”

According to the public health agency of Canada, approximately 880 children are diagnosed with some form of cancer every year and 150 will die from the disease.

“Childhood cancer is very such a chameleon. It can present in so many different ways. It can be as simple as a cough, or it could be an abnormal blood test. Sometimes children will just look really sick.”

Sometimes the symptoms of cancer are very small, like they were for little Evan Leversage who died of a brain tumour last year, .

“We woke up one morning and he had a lazy eye. It had went away with a couple of minutes originally but as a mother you want to get things checked out. The doctor said at that point that this kind of thing runs in your family. It’s nothing big don’t worry about this.” Nicole Wellwood, Evan’s mother.

It took eight months and three different doctors to get Evans diagnosis. On doctors orders if something just doesn’t seem right, it’s worth a trip to the pediatrician.