PEDIATRIC SARCOMA COMMUNITY EDUCATION

 

 

 

 

 

 

DANI’S FOUNDATION LAUNCHES PEDIATRIC SARCOMA COMMUNITY EDUCATION PROGRAM

Knowing the Symptoms Could Save A Child’s Life!

 

 


DO YOU KNOW THE SYMPTOMS OF PEDIATRIC SARCOMA?

  • A lump or bump on the body
  • Pain or tenderness.  Pain may become intense when the tumor is located near important nerves.
  • Swelling is prevalent, especially when the long bones of the arms or legs are affected.
  • Fractures may be cause by a weakening of the bones related to tumors.

Other symptoms may include:

  • Fatigue
  • Unexplained Weight Loss
  • Unexplained Fever
  • Poor Appetite

None of these symptoms are a sure sigh of cancer which is why early detection and prognosis is so important as well as medical attention and proper testing.

Take action when:

  • Pain is out of proportion to injury
  • Pain does not get better despite adequate therapy
  • Assmeytry, a dissimilarity in corresponding parts on opposite side of the body which are normally alike
  • There is a limp or the inability to move the extremity without discomfort.
  • Symptoms that persist for more than two weeks.

If your child or young adult show any of the symptoms listed above, please seek the proper medical attention.  Your knowledge of the symptoms of pediatric sarcoma could save the life of a child or young adult!

A Letter to Educators from Program Chairman Steve Antonopulos, Head Athletic Trainer in Professional Football

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you and your staff to participate in a community education program that is designed to promote ealier detection of pediatric sarcomas; those rare forms of cancer that affect children and young adults  As you will learn from Dani’s Foundation, the symptoms of these cancers can mimic the aches and pains associated with normal childhood growth or may be attributed to those injuries that student athletes obtain.  The difference is that symptoms from injuries tend to improve… the symptoms of cancer are more likely to persist and get worse.

As an athletic training professional, I encourage you to become involved with this vital communigy education program.  By working together to become more aware of the symptoms of pediatric sarcomas, we can insure better health for our children and those student athletes that we serve.  Information is the key to deciphering between a minor injury or a more serious condition.

I am involved with Dani’s Foundation and their commitment to educate the public on the symptoms of pediatric sarcomas with the goal of promoting early detection and ultimate survival.  I hope that you will join me in this very important campaign.  Your involvement will be simple, but can result in saving the life of one of your students.

I am asking you to:

  • Order Stop Look & Live posters and brochures from Dani’s Foundation!  These supplies are FREE of charge to all educators!
  • Distribute the informational brochures to your staff, student population and those parents of your student athletes.
  • Post an informational poster on your office wall, as a daily reminder of the symptoms of pediatric sarcoma.
  • Encourage a medical evaluation should any of the symptoms of pediatric sarcoma present and/or persist for over two weeks.

In advance, I thank you for your consideration of support of this very important community health education campaign.   Your support will be the key to our ultimate success!

Yours in Health

 

 

JUST THE FACTS

  • Cancer kills more children than any other disease.
  • On average, 46 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every week day in the United States.
  • One in every four elementary schools has a child with cancer.
  • The average high school has two students who are current or former cancer patients.
  • Sarcomas are cancer of bone, muscle, fat, cartilage and soft tissue.
  • There are more than 50 types of pediatric sarcomas, and they account for 20% of all pediatric cancers.
  • Bone cancer incidence increases between the ages of 11 to 15 coinciding with the adolescent growth spurt.
  • Under the best circumstances, chances for a 5-year survival rate are slightly better than 60%.
  • Cancer that has spread to the other organs by the time of diagnosis decrease the 5-year survival rates to about 20%.

Know the Symptoms of Pediatric Sarcoma!

 

Download a copy of our Stop Look & Live Brochure