Time to improve their long-term healthcare

CANCER is a terrifying word for the parents of children diagnosed with the disease. How many children are diagnosed with cancer in Ireland each year and what are their prospects?

This is an under-reported topic, says Jennifer Carpenter, development officer with Hand in Hand, an organisation supporting families affected by childhood cancer in the West of Ireland. “Children with cancer are a somewhat forgotten group as most people would rather not think about such a terrible thing happening to a child,” she says.

The National Cancer Registry of Ireland shows 150 new cases of cancer each year in children and teenagers, aged up to 19-years-old. The most common cancers in this age group are leukaemia, lymphoma and brain cancer.