Upon Diagnosis
From one parent to another,
When we first learned that Pierce might have cancer, we were shocked and didn’t know what to do. So naturally, we immediately put our faith and trust in people we had never met. Eventually, we had to stop and question if they were best equipped to deal with the type of illness facing our child.
However, the first thing you can do after a verified diagnosis is to arm yourself with as much information as possible about that particular diagnosis and the prognoses associated with the different staging. For example, Pierce being diagnosed with Neuroblastoma (NB) meant he had a relatively rare but deadly form of solid tumor cancer.
We also began to search the internet to find that several centers of excellence in the country focused on NB precisely because of its high relapse rate and interesting genetics and behavior. So we sought out the best, most well-equipped center for treating NB, leading us to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which has a team of doctors focusing exclusively on NB. Generally, at diagnosis, people will gravitate to a regional center that can offer the best course of treatment and perhaps go a little further if the case is particularly difficult or a rare subset of cancer.
At the beginning of this journey, you will have many questions. Below is a list of things to do to begin the process of understanding so you can help provide the best care possible:
