The first time Ashley Bernath dropped her then-three-year-old daughter, Charlie, off at preschool, there was no hug, no tears, no long goodbye — just a quick “see you later” and a full-steam-ahead dash for the classroom. Charlie’s excitement that morning in September 2025 was understandable. She had spent the previous 15 months in active cancer … Read more
The walk is a little different each day, sometimes a twisting, turning path through the various side streets of Boston’s Longwood Medical Area, and on other occasions more of a straight line down bustling thoroughfares. One thing, though, remains consistent: no matter which route Paris Prinsen, 21, takes from her apartment to classes at the … Read more
With the Boston Red Sox having their best season in years and contending for the playoffs, crowds have been regularly filling Fenway Park to capacity this summer. For one small contingent of these baseball fans, the trips will prove especially meaningful regardless of what transpires on the field. This rotating group, mostly young children and … Read more
Like many teenagers, Isabella (Bella) Snow Fraser, 15, enjoys immersing herself in action role-play games online. Her favorite, Genshin Impact, allows participants to join an interstellar traveler as they seek their lost twin across a mysterious world of danger and unforeseen challenges. This futuristic fantasy in many ways mirrors Bella’s own life. After being diagnosed … Read more
Dana-Farber researcher Charles Stiles, PhD, remembers the call. It was 2008 and a colleague phoned from a conference to deliver the news. Two separate research teams had discovered a genetic driver for the most common of childhood brain tumors called pediatric low-grade glioma. The problem of finding a genetic target to improve treatment for this … Read more
Leukemia is a blood cancer that results when stem cells in the bone marrow produce abnormal blood cells.
Leukemia is a type of cancer that starts in early forms of white blood cells. White blood cells are cells that typically fight infections.
Retinoblastoma is a rare childhood cancer of the eye. It arises from the retina, the nerve tissue in the back of the eye that is sensitive to light.
Washington, D.C., can be a frenzied place, especially for a college student juggling a full class load and congressional internships on Capitol Hill. Jen Fox, however, is taking it all in stride. How does she stay so calm? Well, Fox suggests, two bouts with Hodgkin lymphoma in three years, and a stem cell transplant at … Read more
Charlotte Kelly hated having her chemotherapy port accessed, but her mother, Patrice, found a way to calm the toddler. Each time tears came, Patrice would rub her nose against Charlotte’s – and the pair would get past their fears together. Today the ritual continues, even though Charlotte’s last neuroblastoma checkup at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and … Read more
This post originally appeared on Thriving, the Boston Children’s Hospital blog. Anna Protsiou was 5 when she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2002. She remembers pain, and fruit-scented anesthesia masks that led her to stop eating cherries. She also remembers hospital arts and crafts projects. What she barely remembers is the pediatric oncologist who saved … Read more
Amy McHugh’s 4-year-old daughter, Emily Coughlin, was a typical kid – playful and inquisitive – until May 2009, when she started complaining of knee pain. After a visit to the pediatrician, and a misdiagnosis of Lyme disease, the family ended up at Boston Children’s Hospital, where they received a devastating diagnosis: Emily had high-risk neuroblastoma, … Read more
Early last year, at his home in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Jesus Apolinaris Cruz’s leg hurt so much he could barely sleep. “All day, it was constant pain,” the 13-year-old recalls. His parents took him to two local pediatricians, who examined him, drew blood, and tested his platelets. No diagnosis. Finally, in April 2016, a … Read more
Mark W. Kieran, MD, PhD, director of Pediatric Medical Neuro-Oncology at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, spoke to pediatric patient families in a recent Facebook Live Webchat addressing pediatric brain tumor care. Kieran answered questions from audience members about the most common of the 300 brain tumor types that occur in children, including … Read more
In her research studies with young adult survivors of childhood cancers, pediatric oncologist Natasha Frederick, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, explored sexual dysfunction in survivors between the ages of 18 and 30 years old. She found that most of these young survivors reporting such problems keep their concerns from partners, loved ones, and caregivers, and … Read more
When Tim Conners collected his wish from the Make-A-Wish Foundation in 2012 at the age of 18, he was blind from childhood leukemia that had spread to his optic nerve. A football player and wrestler who’d never been an outdoorsman, he asked to meet Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind person to climb the Seven Summits … Read more
For seventeen girls and patients at Dana-Farber Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Dana-Farber’s annual Girls Weekend – a three-day arts, shopping, and food extravaganza – is a much-needed opportunity to relax and connect with new friends who also know what it’s like to have cancer. “Being a teenager – especially when you’re a … Read more
For much of his 17 years, Spencer Riley has lived to play basketball. This winter, his favorite sport helped the teenager get back to life. Riley was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2016 and treated at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center that summer. He underwent an intensive three-month treatment cycle: one week of … Read more
Because of their increased susceptibility to the toxicities of chemotherapy, should ALL patients with Down syndrome receive modified treatment to minimize this risk? Or should they be given the same treatment as other children with ALL, to minimize the chance for relapse?
By Ebony Glass One day, our 2-year-old son Javon complained about a bit of pain at daycare. It seemed harmless enough. But after a visit to the pediatrician, we ended up in the hospital for emergency surgery. There, they discovered that a mass in his body was causing the pain. “Cancer?” we feared, but it was … Read more