More Canadian children are surviving cancer

Apr 10 2008

More Canadian children are surviving cancer, according to Canadian Cancer Statistics 2008 released today by the Canadian Cancer Society.

This year's report includes a special section on childhood cancer and reveals that the five-year survival rate for all childhood cancers is 82 per cent - an 11 per cent increase during the past 15 years. Cancer is rare among children, although it is the leading cause of death from disease in Canadian children over one month of age, second only to accidents. On average, 848 children per year are diagnosed with cancer across Canada. In Alberta, 81 children under the age of 14 were diagnosed with cancer in 2004, according to the most recent available data. That same year, 13 Alberta children died of cancer.

Taran Terry, who lives in Strathmore with his family, is one of the growing number of success stories and is a seven-year cancer survivor. "I got Taran to the doctor right away," says his mom Tammy, remembering how she noticed that that her 16-month-old son's stomach was growing faster than normal. Taran was diagnosed with Wilms' tumour, the most common type of kidney cancer found in children. Taran had his kidney removed and received chemotherapy treatment for five months.

"Taran is very healthy now," says Tammy. "You would never know he had cancer."

While many more children are surviving cancer, many of them are facing future health problems - what the experts refer to as late effects. These effects, such as infertility or delayed puberty, are a result of the cancer or the treatment and show up in approximately two-thirds of children with cancer.

Childhood Cancer Fast Facts:

• Since 1985, childhood cancer death rates have dramatically declined, dropping from approximately 40 to 20 deaths per one million children.
• The five-year survival rate for all childhood cancers is 82 per cent - an 11 per cent increase during the past 15 years.
• Little is known about what causes childhood cancer. Research to date has been unable to explain why certain children get cancer and others don't.