Last week I attended a very special event at Tomorrows Children’s Institute(TCI) at Hackensack University Medical Center. Gisele DiNatale, a very brave mother who established the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation (ARVF), and Dr. Michael Harris, director of TCI, announced the establishment of Teen Cancer Awareness Week.
New Jersey is the first state to build awareness of the ordeal endured by teens afflicted with cancer. Not only due teens with cancer have to struggle with isolation, body image issues, infertility and an interruption of school and social life. Side effects of chemotherapy can include vomiting, nausea, mouth sores, loss of hair, fatigue, loss of appetite and depression, among many others. Managing the stress and trauma of a catastrophic illness can seem daunting to kids and families.
The State of NJ has identified the importance of recognizing the specific needs of teens with cancer by designating the third week in January as Teen Cancer Awareness Week. In the coming years, this brief period of seven days will be a time for all of us to raise awareness of the psycho-social needs of teens with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.
* In the U.S., more than 12,000 children under the age of 21 are diagnosed with cancer every year; approximately 3,000 of them will not survive.
* Cancer is still the leading cause of death from disease in teens between age 15 and 19.
* Between 1979-2006, over 18,000 adolescents and young adults (age 15-29) in NJ were diagnosed with cancer.
“The more we become aware,” says the ARVF literature, “the better able we will be to meet the needs of teens that are battling and surviving cancers. This is an opportunity to reach out to our communities with the facts about teens and cancer.”
Mrs. DiNatale spearheaded this effort after her daughter, Alicia, was told by four different teachers at her school to remove her bandana. This would have “exposed my naked head,” wrote Alicia who was undergoing chemotherapy treatments. Alicia continued, “having to confront people who you don’t even know and defend yourself by telling them you have cancer and I’m bald is very hard to deal with.”
As a mother of a cancer survivor, I applaud Mrs. DiNatale’s efforts in securing this week, and hope that New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez will introduce a bill in the Senate to make Teen Cancer Awareness Week a nationally recognized event.
I will remember Alicia, a young woman I never met, but whose courage lives on in the establishment of Teen Cancer Awareness Week, and as I hug my daughter and remember the courageous fight teens everywhere have endured.
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