Cancer by Number

As a society, we put a lot of stock in numbers. They're important. They quantify things, they measure, the count down, they show progress, regression, they help us analyze, and they help us understand. This week, February 15th was International Child Cancer Day. As a part of this day, I saw a few people that we know from Hopkins post their numbers...how they quantify a diagnosis. How they have measured the last few months of life. They did this to raise awareness but also to help others understand. Numbers can give you perspective. It also paints a picture of how each child's journey is so different, but honestly, when you look at the numbers, regardless of the journey, it is beyond alarming.

One of the challenging things in this journey is trying to help others understand diagnosis and path of treatment when people ask questions. People just have a hard time wrapping their brains around pediatric cancer because it is so different from adult cancers. People often compare it to adult cancer, and you just can't. The journey is so different. To be fair, we didn't understand any of this before diagnosis either. I'm not even sure we understood how crucial some of the days and mile markers were when we were there. We are still learning and still fighting. Leukemia is so different and day 29 is SO crucial. It is crucial that at that point they can no longer detect leukemia in order to meet standard protocol. I think that at day 29 a lot of people heard "no leukemia detected" and assumed we were done. A lot of people hear that intensification chemo is over and they assume that we are done. We are far from done, but we can see light at the end of the tunnel because of the hope that the hardest part is over.

It is also important to point out the doses of chemo. We assumed for a long time that children got smaller doses than adults which is why they receive it more often or roll with it a bit easier. This is also not true. Children receive a higher dose of chemo per kilogram of body weight than adults. Many of the doses that children receive, if transferred to an adult bodyweight ratio, would in fact be lethal to an adult. Children are just stronger, for lack of a better term younger and more resilient.

So here is Cooper's journey in numbers to date:

184: The number of days since Cooper was diagnosed
1,170: The number of total days of treatment and chemotherapy
67: Number of days of before we reach maintenance treatment
150+: Days missed from work
100: Days missed from kindergarten
40: Number of IV doses of chemotherapy
10: Number of spinal taps with chemotherapy
12: The number of times Cooper has gone under anesthesia
8: Days nights in the hospital
2: Number of bone marrow pulls
29: The number of days it took for Cooper to reach molecular remission
7: Number of blood transfusions
4: Number of platelet transfusions

I think the most important thing to point out is that in the world of leukemia and childhood cancer, we have an extremely good outlook and a "best case scenario" as far as his genetics, age, risk level, aggressiveness, and chromosomal translocation and his numbers are still this alarming.

So, when you take a look at Cooper's numbers, when you think about the quantity of his journey, also put into perspective that this is the quantity of a "good scenario" in childhood cancer. It breaks our hearts to even think about what the numbers look like for many that we see everyday.

The biggest number is 4....that's the percentage of cancer funding that goes to childhood cancer. 4 is not enough combat these big numbers that these babies are up against. They deserve more.