What it means to fight Neuroblastoma
Compass to Care kid Anna is a 14-year-old fighting Neuroblastoma at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. As a teenager in cancer treatment, Anna has to make different sacrifices for her battle against her disease than those of our younger kids. While toddlers don’t necessarily know what is going on, young men and women like Anna are fully aware of the plans and stakes of their cancer journeys.
At a time when most teenagers their age are gaining new independence, the lives of childhood cancer patients become more and more restrained by the demands of their treatment. These are the years when everyone is unsure of themselves, and trying to establish a unique identity. Anna, like many other cancer patients her age, must therefore strive to not allow cancer to define her.
But this is difficult. Every month, her father Jeremy drives Anna and her mom, Jaclyn, over 1200 miles to Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital in New York City, since it specializes in Neuroblastoma. It’s too long of a trip to complete in just one day, so they always have to stop for a night in either Ohio or Pennsylvania.
Once Jaclyn and Anna are dropped off at the hospital, Jeremy immediately turns the car around to head home. He will be back to pick them up at the end of the round of chemotherapy, but for now he must get back in time for work. This means that for every round of treatment, Anna’s father spends at least thirty-six hours on the road. While in New York, Anna and Jaclyn travel to different facilities by cab. Mostly, they just stay at the hospital.
To state the obvious, battling cancer is exhausting for everyone involved. Not only is chemotherapy taxing on the body, but a life in transit is a life deprived of sleep, friendship, and time. Despite this, Anna has used whatever interludes she has found to pursue her many interests. The questions below may seem simple, or basic. But they are meant to remind us in a small way that Compass to Care kids are more than just a name, a face, and a diagnosis. They have a life waiting for them after cancer, if only we can help them return to it.
Interview with a Neuroblastoma patient
Last week we asked Anna a few questions about who she is, beyond her diagnosis. Below, we find out who Anna is, in her own words.
1. What grade are you in? Freshman in high school/ 9th grade
2. What is your favorite book? Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen
3. Do you have any pets? Yes, I have a dog named Charlie and two cats, Moon and Trixie.
4. What is something about you that most people don’t know? I like playing ping pong and watching all the Marvel Comic movies on Disney+
5. How did your life change when you found out you had cancer? Everything changed in its own way.
6. Were you able to keep doing all of the things you liked to do before you found out you had Neuroblastoma? Not everything, but I try to do everything that I did before I was diagnosed.
7. Who helps you the most to fight cancer? Lots of people including my family and the doctors, but also those who lost their fight with cancer.
8. What is the most difficult part about having Neuroblastoma? There are many difficult parts to having Neuroblastoma, but the worst is probably dropping from my normal life to go to treatment, missing everything while I was gone, coming back and acting as if I was never gone at all.
9. What is your favorite thing to do in your free time? Camping, spending time with my pets, and hanging with my friends.
10. What makes you special? There are many things that make me special. I like to think my personality makes me very special.
Thank you, Anna, for sharing a little of yourself with us. All of your friends at Compass to Care are in your corner! Click here to find out how you can help more kids like Anna!