Chemotherapy sounds like one thing. Until it's your child. Then you…

Chemotherapy sounds like one thing.
Until it's your child.
Then you learn the names.
Cytarabine. Daunorubicin. Etoposide.
You learn which one runs for hours. Which one makes them sick. Which medications have to be given alongside it. You learn what blood counts need to recover before you can finally take your child home.
These drugs are powerful. They save children's lives.
But many of the chemotherapy drugs used to treat childhood cancers weren't designed specifically for children. And killing cancer cells often means damaging healthy cells along the way.
As Luke's mom, I will always be grateful that treatment gave us more time with him.
But I will also always believe our children deserve better than simply asking, “How much treatment can this little body survive?”
We need treatments designed for their cancers, their bodies and their futures.
Because curing the cancer should always be the goal.
But so should getting that child home with an entire lifetime still ahead of them. 💛🎗️