Child life can profoundly impact a child’s experience of retinoblastoma, and their quality of life. However, many children treated at specialist retinoblastoma centres lack child life support, and their parents feel unsupported, compared with other cancer patients. Abby White explores the challenges and ways to overcome them.
Families and medical professionals worldwide seek retinoblastoma care at centres offering treatments that are unavailable in their home country. Many families contact WE C Hope for assistance before, during or after such treatment. Abby White explores the challenges they experience and what can be done to help improve outcomes for their children.
Retinoblastoma is highly curable with early diagnosis and modern therapies. But 90% of affected children live in developing countries, and globally, less than 3 in 10 children survive. Rb survivor and volunteer CEO, Abby White, explores the biggest challenges to care in developing countries, and some ways to overcome them.
Annie, an important member of our team, retired on April 15th. Abby White, retinoblastoma survivor, WE C Hope founder and volunteer CEO, reflects on working with her guide dog for seven years. She considers the many varied gifts Annie has brought to both herself as an individual retinoblastoma survivor, and to WE C Hope.
Just 3 paediatric oncologists serve Ghana’s population of 29 million, but this dedicated team leads one of the best childhood cancer programs in West Africa. Dr. Vera Essuman (paediatric ophthalmologist) and Prof. Lorna Renner (paediatric oncologist) discuss retinoblastoma in Ghana and the development of care for children with eye cancer across the country.
On March 10, 2019, our beloved child life specialist Jayne Kamau died aboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 as she returned home from SIOPAfrica in Cairo. WE C Hope Child Life Director, Morgan Livingstone, reflects on more than a decade of mentoring, friendship and working together to advance child life in Kenya. Co-authored with WE C Hope CEO, Abby White.
July 11, World Population Day, focuses attention on the urgency and importance of population issues. Helen Dimaras Ph.D considers the effect of our expanding global population on the expected numbers of children who will develop eye cancer each year, and the provision of effective care to meet their needs.
Have you ever wondered what happens in a child’s eye during retinoblastoma treatment? We explore four of the most common eye-saving treatments here. Below each, you will find a link to further information that includes advantages, disadvantages, side effects and questions to ask the doctor.
We are looking forward to One Rb World and SIOP 2017 in Washington D.C. this October. Read about the 2016 One Rb World meeting and International Society of Paediatric Oncology World Congress in this blog mini series, originally shared later last year.
Today we celebrate Rati, the beautiful, bright, bubbly butterfly who came so briefly into our lives, changed us all so dramatically and inspired the foundation of WE C Hope. Ultimately, expert care came too late and we could not save her life. Rati had plans of her own though. She taught us to see and hear and understand the needs of families like her own, and she challenged us to do something to help change their experience of retinoblastoma.
