8-Year-Old Has Ovarian Cancer
As if we weren’t worried enough about childhood leukemias and pediatric neuroblastomas.
A rash of recent news of young kids with traditionally adult cancers makes it that much scarier to be a parent these days. And here’s another one!
An eight-year-old girl in England has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer after complaining of abdominal pain to her parents that they thought might be appendicitis. She was soon diagnosed as one of the youngest children in Britain to have the disease (there were a few under the age of four in 2005). The little girl’s left ovary had to be removed in full, and she’s in the midst of chemotherapy.
Ovarian cancer in kids isn’t unheard of. It’s considered “one of the most frustrating of all gynecologic diseases,” according to experts, but the good news is more than half of ovarian tumors in kids turn out to be benign (so even if this crops up, you don’t have to panic . . . at least not until the doctors tell you to start panicking). Still, doctors say pediatricians need to be aware this COULD be the cause of adominal pain or endocrine symptoms in kids – so don’t feel ashamed of suggesting it.
Beond the threat of death (the biggest concern with any cancer), pediatric ovarian cancer can affect a child’s development as she hits to teenage years when her body would normally begin menstruating. In Sophie fry’s case, there’s good news – with one ovary left, doctors expect she’ll not only make a full recovery but menstruate normally and even have the potential of having kids.
Image: Telegraph
Related Posts:
