A boost to the brain cancer trial in children gives hope to families looking for a "miracle"



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Updated

July 16, 2018 14:27:45

History:
Monique Squires was about to be four years old when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Her mother and father, Danielle and Darryl Squires, were shocked

"She was complaining of headaches, dizziness, mornings, she was waking up and vomiting, just very randomly, then one day she was turning around, "says Squires

. at the Royal Children's Hospital where later we were told that Monique had a DIPG (Intrinsic Diffin Glioma), a very aggressive brain tumor, and that they could not do anything.

"I've never experienced shock in my life, My whole body shook."

Monique only had a few months to live and received radiation treatment to try to

"We were both crying, saying," There must be something, if it's a miracle, "said Squires.

"The answer we had was" No, there is nothing we can do, sometimes we do not have the answers. "

Monique is Deceased 13 months after being diagnosed, leaving behind her twin sister Zoe, now six, and her older sister Olivia.

At the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, the federal government announced that it would devote $ 5 million to a nationwide trial offering personalized treatment to children with Alzheimer's disease. of high-risk brain cancers.

Launched by Zero Childhood Cancer at the end of 2015, with the Children's Cancer Institute (CCI) in Sydney and the Kids Cancer Center at Sydney Children's Hospital.

ICC Director General Michelle Haber said funding would change the game.

"Brain cancer is the most common solid tumor in children. She said that about 70 children were diagnosed with high-risk brain cancer each year in Australia and that statistics showed that about 40% of them would not survive.

"It's a shocking statistic it has not fundamentally changed for about 30 years," she said.

"This program badumes that the reason we can not cure the majority of these children is that it's a one size fits all … the universal approach does not work because every child and every cancer is different.

Each child participating in the program will undergo genetic profiling and will be tested for its response to specific medications to determine which ones are most effective and could lead to recovery.

The Squires family, who live near Echuca, in northern Victoria, spent many hours traveling to and from Melbourne for treatment.

"It was a difficult journey, full of appointments at the hospital, radiation therapy treatments, it was not easy," said Ms. Squires

. -A-Wish … we went to the Gold Coast and she met her Scooby-Doo idol, she had a good time in her hard times. "

Mrs. Squires said that she wanted the trial to provide other families with

" It's too late for us, but you can not dwell on it ", she says.

"It gives you hope to talk to these teachers and researchers stop children like Monique who is moving away from this terrible disease. "

Subjects:

Cancer,

diseases and disorders,

health,

children,

melbourne-3000

vic,

Sydney 2000

nsw,

echuca-3564

Published

July 16, 2018 13:39:00

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