Let's Change Our Point of View
The life of a family with a child with cancer
By Nicolle Alarcon
By Nicolle Alarcon
Getting out of the car and looking above me, I see the huge sign of The Ronald McDonald House Charity. I see the elevator but also the stairs. I choose to go up the stairs a way in order to feel what some parents or children might walk on to get more strength. Finally, I’m in front of the door. I walk in and see a whole new world; a world that children, parents, nurses, volunteers and many others enter. My eyes wish they could see everything at once, but instead they repeatedly glance back and forth. The living room is huge and has a sign of “No food or drinks, Thank You!” Behind the living room, across the front door, you can see metal tables, several family members sitting with their green or yellow bracelets, giving me that stare of “Is she going to volunteer here from now on?” There are two doors going in the opposite direction, to the right and to the left. On the right there are many brown doors with numbers on them, and many toys and tricycles and slides, technically a colorful playground. I go back and rush towards the right door across the cafeteria. The first room I see is the computer room. It is a room with a huge sofa, and one of the walls is covered with a 3D sticker of a huge red Ford. The next room is a playroom for kids under 6 years old. There is a huge play truck that a 5’3” person can fit into and shelf with many toys like little cars and legos.
Lastly, my favorite, my footsteps touch the floor where many kids had entered and took a seat and were ready to learn. This is the classroom. This room has a sink on the left, and a table where a teacher would sit in the middle and would be able to see all of the children at the same time. The room has polka dot walls and the floor is all blue. Shelves are filled up with colorful books and toys as well. My curiosity grows more and more and I want to know what these families go through. Do they have to leave their jobs to attend the chemo treatments with their children? What is chemotherapy? Do they have to ask for donations? Do both of the parents lose their jobs? Does the hospital help? How much does one treatment cost? How do their children feel about all this? How many donations do hospitals get in a year or in a day? How many patients in total are attending hospitals in California and in San Diego? How many people get health care? To answer these questions I had to start with a lot of research. According to the American Childhood Cancer Organization, approximately 13,400 children are diagnosed with cancer each year in the U.S. Approximately half of the children who die each year between the ages five and 14 die of cancer. The most common form of childhood cancer for those under 14 is leukemia, affecting 40% of all patients. According to the ACCO’s surveys one third of respondents “reported that one adult in the household stopped working completely” in order to attend to the child’s needs. Almost one in 10 parents of children with cancer go bankrupt to pay for their child’s medical bills. Over half of families pay their child’s cancer-related medical bills by fundraising or asking family and friends for loans or gifts.
Ronald McDonald House Charity responded to my email and I was able to talk to the family coordinator, Ms. Sonza. Ms. Sonza said I wasn't able to talk to a family there, but she would gladly like to talk about the services she provides for them. She explained her job is to keep 74 rooms occupied with a family. She would always make sure to make the families feel as if it were their own home. Families often travel long distances to be admitted to Ronald McDonald House Charity. Most families have to be kept on a waiting list until a room is available. They even provide a regular school program from kindergarten to twelfth grade. They take the kids on field trips and give families transportation if they need to go somewhere. They provide napping rooms, a chapel for the parents, and a laundry room with laundry supplies. They also provide three meals a day. Volunteers come in to do arts and crafts with kids and give them free haircuts. November 11, 2014 was the day I went to interview Ms. Sonza, Ms. Sonza mentioned that two ladies dressed up as the princesses from the movie Frozen to entertain the kids. Ronald McDonald operates with donations and grants and it also gets over 100 thousand donations and as times goes by, the number of donations increases. Ms. Sonza feels very rewarded to work at The Ronald McDonald House Charity. Sometimes it gets tough for her when a patient passes away. One of the things that children with cancer go through is chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is a treatment that uses small drugs to destroy or slow to growth of fast spreading cancerous cells. There are more than 100 chemotherapy drugs used today. Chemotherapy drugs are given to patients in many ways such as pills, injections, flu shots, and liquid. For example, the five year survival rate for those with lungs cancer is 17%, while the same survival rate for men with testicular cancer is 95% according to Cancer.net. Why is chemotherapy expensive? Chemotherapy is expensive to patients depending on what type of cancer they have, what drugs have to be used, where you are treated, the coverage of insurance, and how often you need the treatment. Some of the most used cancer treatments and that might have to pay for are: Avastin, Herceptin, Erbitux, Eloxatin. I found a new voice, the voice of Melissa in San Diego, the mother of Max. “People should be able to understand the loss and the pain that is in the journey.” Max was a three year old boy who was diagnosed with cancer. According to his mother, Max always wanted to be carried since he often was limping. On his third day of chemotherapy, his family saw a miracle. Max was diagnosed as “NED” (No Evidence Diseases) at the age of four, and he was able to walk. But a year later Max collapsed. Before he passed away, he was looking in good condition and things were looking optimistic. One day they were “making pancakes in the kitchen for dinner, and we thought we thought we would have three more months with him left”. Two days later, they got the notice that Max’s cancer had spread into his liver. It has been two years since Max died. Melissa left me with this: “Having a child with cancer is a challenge that we as a family have to overcome and the last months you have with your child can be the best months of your life”. |