Blog
When Your Tumour Leaves You With a Disability – by Noah Severino
Noah Severino
I was 9 years old when I was diagnosed with late stage rhabdomyosarcoma. I had been experiencing chronic fatigue, migraines and tingling in my face for over two months, but none of the doctors could find anything wrong. Then one morning I woke up and I was completely blind in my right eye.
The ophthalmologist found no reason for me to lose my sight so he ordered an emergency CT scan. I remember the pediatrician on call coming out of the viewing room and saying to my mom, “You need to get to SickKids Hospital right now; they are waiting for you.”
A tumour had basically encapsulated my brain and was moving; the doctors thought I was 24 – 48 hours away from dying. They started me on emergency chemo and radiation before they could even put a name to what I had. All in all, I had a total of 50 rounds of chemo and 30 rounds of radiation over the course of a year. Radiation caused third-degree burns on my cheek, head, in my mouth and down my esophagus, so eating was a real challenge. I used to drink coffee creamers to keep my weight up and because my mouth was so raw.
My tumour was so aggressive and advanced when I was diagnosed, that doctors wondered whether I would be able to overcome it. They wondered if I would be functional or articulate after such intense treatment, but here I am, 17 years later, a graduate of the Master of Management program at the Schulich School of Business, and thankfully cancer-free.
Anyone who knows a childhood cancer survivor knows that life doesn’t just return to normal when you are declared cured. The tumour severed my optic nerve and I am completely blind in one eye. The radiation permanently damaged my thyroid and my pituitary gland, and for a long time my tear ducts and salivary glands were not functional. I still live with daily headaches that range from two to nine on the pain scale.
I have annual checkups at my POGO AfterCare Clinic. They are monitoring me for secondary cancers (because of all the radiation) and cardiac issues that may arise due to the type of chemotherapy I had. I get regular MRIs to look for brain tumours and I am thankful that my results have been clear.
As you can imagine, a tumour around my brain, radiation to the head and a year out of school can put a kid at a disadvantage academically.
I was luckier than other childhood cancer survivors in the same situation in that a neighbour who was a retired teacher offered to be my private tutor to help me catch up—I was actually working at a higher level than my peers at one point. Still, I found school challenging (albeit a welcome one) and used special accommodations, like a note taker to help supplement my own notes in case I experienced writing fatigue or a migraine.
Watch Straight Talk: Assistive Technology after Childhood Cancer
Counsellors in the POGO School and Work Transitions Program (Transitions Program) work one-on-one with survivors like me to help us achieve our academic and employment goals. A HUGE challenge for me has been disclosing my disability when applying for a job. No one wants to hear that a potential employee isn’t going to be able to type quickly, or won’t show up for work some days because of the headaches and chronic pain he has to deal with.
The Transitions Program is funded entirely by donations from the private sector. DONATE TODAY.
Between some of the workshops I have attended, help from my family and talking one-on-one with my counsellor, I have the tools I need to advocate for myself. It is very intimidating to put yourself out there, but I have gained the confidence I need to say, “I’m a childhood cancer survivor and as a result of my treatments this is what I have to deal with, but I promise you I’m a hard worker and you will be happy with what I can do.”
I can honestly say that if I could go back in time and take away my cancer experience, I don’t think I would. It has shaped my goals and made me who I am. My hope is to one day work with other childhood cancer survivors or kids with serious illnesses to help them grow and be the best they can be.
Through his work with his POGO Counsellor, Noah received a number of post-secondary scholarships and graduated with a (Honours) Bachelor of Humanities from Carleton University and a Master of Management from the Schulich School of Business at York University. Noah is currently working at the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Todd Cunningham, PhD: Assistive Technology After Childhood Cancer
Assistive Technology After Childhood Cancer
While the survival rate for childhood cancer is 82%, approximately 60% of these young survivors will experience long-term effects because of their cancer or treatment. The late effects that affect the brain and learning and cognition can range from mild to severe and can include cognitive impairment resulting in learning difficulties that can affect a young person’s success at school or in the workplace. Assistive technology is any technology that allows someone to use their natural strengths to overcome an area of weakness. Todd Cunningham explains that new technology exists to help with cognition, like reading and identifying important parts of the text. With artificial intelligence, the software can analyze a document and highlight the most important bits of information for the reader, cuing them to pay attention to that passage. Assistive technology reduces the cognition load, allowing you to pay attention to what’s really important and relevant.
Todd Cunningham, PhD, C.Psych is a psychologist with Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. He spoke at POGO’s 2013 Survivor Conference: Life after Childhood Cancer where he presented these and other ideas.
Download a PDF of Todd’s full presentation
Straight Talk about Childhood Cancer is POGO’s series of video shorts featuring the insights of experts whose leading-edge work impacts the care, treatment and quality of life of childhood cancer patients, survivors and their families.
POGO Supportive Care Guidelines Influence the Care of Children with Cancer
The POGO Supportive Care Clinical Practice Guidelines Program provides healthcare professionals in Ontario and worldwide with the best options for managing the side effects of cancer and improving the health and quality of life of children with cancer. These Guidelines translate the current evidence into recommendations for daily clinical practice. For example, in POGO’s most recent guideline on managing fatigue (published in the medical journal Lancet Child & Adolescent Health), physical activity is strongly recommended as a way to help ease this common and distressing symptom. It further recommends that physical activity should suit each patient’s specific needs, likes and abilities. The POGO Guidelines team based this recommendation—one of four—on research with adults that showed the consistent benefit of physical activity, and the universal availability, low risk of harm and low costs of fitness options. The fatigue guideline was developed by a multidisciplinary and multinational group of experts, together with childhood cancer survivors.
More about Supportive Care Clinical Practice Guidelines
Supportive care helps manage cancer’s side effects
Supportive care is the prevention and management of the adverse effects of cancer and its treatment, which means managing the side effects of cancer and cancer treatment. Supportive care includes preventing and treating infections, reducing nausea and vomiting, as well as managing psychosocial issues, including depression, anxiety, and caregiver distress.
Clinical Practice Guidelines improve outcomes
Guidelines provide a way of translating evidence into clinical practice. Across clinical specialties, treatment according to guidelines has been shown to improve outcomes. Providing evidence-based supportive care for healthcare teams has the potential to optimize treatment outcomes, reduce suffering, and improve the quality of the cancer treatment journey for children with cancer.
POGO’s Clinical Practice Guidelines are internationally endorsed
In its short duration, the POGO Guidelines Program has been extremely successful. In addition to the newly released management of fatigue guideline, POGO has published six Guidelines. Five have been endorsed by the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). This means that links to the guideline recommendations are now embedded into the COG’s trial protocols. Endorsements by other organizations, nationally and internationally, include the Canadian C17 Network, the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/ Oncology and the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer.
POGO’s Clinical Practice Guidelines fill a void
POGO’s Clinical Practice Guidelines are incredibly important for healthcare teams because very few evidence-based supportive care guidelines exist that specifically focus on children with cancer. POGO’s Guidelines are informed by parents who rank the treatment-related adverse effects as most severe and concerning to their children, and by pediatric oncology healthcare providers who have identified topics for which guidance is most needed.
Read all of POGO’s clinical practice guidelines
POGO Celebrates Pediatric Oncology Nursing Excellence with Bruna DiMonte
Bruna DiMonte, POGO Senior Database Administrator and Privacy Officer, and nurse at The Hospital for Sick Children
“Excellence in oncology nursing is about demonstrating a high level of compassion, empathy and pediatric oncology specialty expertise in caring for kids with cancer and their families. Nurses incorporate evidence-based literature and research in our clinical practice, and we are excellent resources to allied health teams and the field of pediatric oncology. We advocate for resources to meet the challenging needs of kids with cancer, families, pediatric oncology nursing and the childhood cancer care system.”
Data Drives Practice
These days, my work at SickKids overlaps with my data management role at POGO. In both organizations, I lead teams responsible for capturing data in our POGONIS database. This data—clinical information that includes specifics about children’s diagnosis, treatment, complications and long-term outcomes—is used by POGO and our system partners for cancer surveillance, research, decision-making, system and program planning and evaluation, and policy advice.
Her Passion for Her Patients and Work as a Pediatric Oncology Nurse
My early career was devoted to working on the frontlines and in doing so, I always strived to provide compassionate care to kids with cancer. While it’s hard to choose, I would say that one of the most rewarding things was finding time in my day to play with a child and distract them from the complex cancer treatment I still had to provide. Every day brought a new set of challenges and however a child’s story played out, my only hope was that I had made a positive difference in their life and their family’s.
POGO Values Pediatric Oncology Nurses
I have had the pleasure of helping POGO support pediatric oncology nurses in making valuable contributions to the pediatric oncology community. I am the staff representative on the POGO Nursing Committee and have worked with Committee members on such special projects as POGO guidance documents about telephone practices (telepractice) and the safe handling of antineoplastic agents. The Committee has also had the opportunity to contribute to publications, abstracts, presentations at conferences of health organizations like the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON), The International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP), and POGO education events like AfterCare Education Day, the Annual Multidisciplinary Symposium on Childhood Cancer and Nursing Pre-Symposia education events. Through POGO, pediatric oncology nurses also have the opportunity to advocate on a policy level, and in the past actively supported POGO’s recommendation of the nurse coordinator position and acquisition of the Interlink Nursing program. POGO also proactively seeks preceptorships with nursing student placements at the POGO office and with the POGO Interlink Nurses at their hospitals.
Other Career Achievements of which Bruna is Most Proud
This is another difficult question as I have had many wonderful opportunities to support novice pediatric oncology nurses, as well as data managers and researchers. I hope I have helped empower others to provide excellent clinical care. And, in collaborating with researchers using POGONIS data for epidemiological research and data analysis, I hope I have adequately supported their policy planning and program development goals for pediatric oncology, and inspired them to collect accurate provincial population data for these needs.
Bruna DiMonte, RN, BScN, has been a pediatric nurse for 36 years and has spent 28 of those working double duty at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto and with POGO as the Senior Database Administrator and Privacy Officer
Pediatric Oncology Social Workers and Kids’ Cancer Care
Social workers Jane Cassano (left) and Cindy van Halderen, McMaster Children’s Hospital
We sat down to chat with Jane Cassano, MSW, and Cindy van Halderen, MSW, about the role pediatric oncology social workers play in the care of children with cancer and their families. Jane is a past member of POGO’s Psychosocial Services Committee and Cindy is a past co-chair of that committee and former member of POGO’s Board of Directors. They work together at McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton. Here’s what they shared.
Describe the role of a social worker and the specific practice of a pediatric oncology social worker. Social workers are skilled at assessing and helping individuals, couples and families who are faced with a variety of challenges. The social work role can be found in hospitals, mental health clinics, schools, child welfare and community service agencies, and private practices.
Pediatric oncology social workers are heavily involved in supporting children, and their families, facing both a cancer diagnosis and the demands of treatment. Ideally, we meet a family at diagnosis so that questions and concerns can be addressed from the outset. Some of the early interventions include assistance with employment issues and applying for benefits, and making referrals to community partners, like POGO for the POGO Financial Assistance Program. Throughout the cancer journey, we provide emotional support and counselling, and monitor how the child and family are coping. We also provide resources for any family member who may be struggling, especially siblings.
What difference do you think social workers make in the lives of kids with cancer and their families? Parents have identified that having a social worker has eased the burden of managing applications for government funding, employment benefits and community resources. There are many programs available in Ontario to support a child with cancer and their family, and they can be difficult to navigate. Social workers are skilled at liaising and advocating with community partners. Parents have said it is a relief to have someone who has knowledge about what is out there and can help them navigate it all.
In such a rapidly evolving field, how do pediatric oncology social workers stay current about the issues of childhood cancer?
Pediatric oncology social workers stay in close contact with community partners like POGO. Ongoing training and education through POGO keep us and our colleagues at other Ontario hospitals up to date with current practices and standards. Through POGO, we have a voice at the provincial level, working as part of a multidisciplinary team to ensure pertinent psychosocial issues are addressed and acted on.
They say, “teamwork makes the dream work.” How is that true for pediatric oncology social workers and POGO? Pediatric oncology social workers and POGO work hand in hand, especially when it comes to the POGO Financial Assistance Program. Families often experience financial distress when their child is diagnosed with cancer. Many parents need time off work and they lose income or there is a major gap before supports begin. Many families are travelling from a distance, which creates a financial strain. Some benefits of the POGO Financial Assistance Program are that it provides stays at Ronald McDonald House and pays for child care for siblings. This support is provided immediately, which is when the need can be the greatest. Families have told us this has made a world of difference.