This past week, Arkansas State Representative Dwight Tosh was honored at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for reaching an incredible milestone: the first St. Jude patient to reach 60 years of pediatric cancer survivorship.
That means that Representative Tosh was treated when St. Jude first opened in 1962. He was their 17th patient, diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. Like many pediatric cancers, such a diagnosis sixty years ago was almost a guaranteed death sentence.
Thankfully, that’s not the case today – and Tosh’s 60 years as a cancer survivor points not just to survival, but to hope for a long, full, and thriving life after cancer.
St. Jude has been at the forefront of pediatric cancer care and research since the hospital opened over sixty years ago. The “research” aspect of St. Jude must be stressed. While pediatric cancer patients are treated at no cost, the hospital also invests a great deal in developing cancer treatments and therapies. Those treatments have been instrumental in increasing the childhood cancer survival rate from a terrifying 20% to 80%.
For Tosh, Hodgkin lymphoma could have easily been fatal. Thanks to St. Jude, children with Hodgkin lymphoma experience a cure rate between 90 and 95%.
We can’t stress just how impressive and inspiring that is! What this tells us is that cancer care for children, both current patients, and lifelong survivors, is better than it ever has been.
While it may be easy to focus only on treating and curing a child’s cancer, support and expert care in the aftermath is essential not only to ensure long life but quality life. Childhood cancer survivors deal with a host of potential side effects from their disease and its treatment: risk for secondary cancers, cardiac health issues, mental health struggles, and other vulnerabilities that the average person doesn’t have to consider.
Survivorship is more than just ensuring cancer doesn’t come back – it’s caring for the whole child as they grow into adulthood. It’s providing counseling and mental health services. It’s knowing what the elevated risks are and screening regularly for any issues. It’s having a network of support made up of doctors, other survivors, and loved ones.
A holistic approach to survivorship starts with a holistic approach to cancer treatment. Increasingly, institutions like St. Jude aren’t just treating the cancer. They’re making sure children and their families are cared for in every way possible. While the cure is the primary target, comfort, care, and overall quality of life matter, too.
What we should really see and celebrate based on this impressive milestone for Representative Tosh and St. Jude is this: there is hope for childhood cancer patients and survivors. As scary as cancer can be, we have never been better equipped to cure and treat childhood cancer as we are now. And even 60 years ago and in the years since, dedicated doctors, nurses, and researchers have ensured that more and more children can declare themselves cancer-free.
If you’re despairing a child’s cancer diagnosis today, you are not alone. It’s a terrifying experience for anyone, and especially for a parent. But know this: pediatric cancer treatments are better than ever. They’re more effective and more informed. Your child’s chances are better today than ever in history. And even when the outlook was much more grim, children like Dwight Tosh grew into adults with families, careers, and full lives despite all that cancer tried to take from them.
James R. Downing, president and CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, said during the ceremony commemorating Tosh’s milestone:
“Whether a discovery in the lab or a patient achieving remission, each victory moves us closer to the day when no child dies in the dawn of life. Dwight Tosh’s 60-year milestone of surviving pediatric cancer is especially rewarding. His journey from childhood cancer treatment in 1962 to proud father of two and grandfather of four continues to inspire us.”
That inspiration doesn’t start and stop with cancer treatment and research: it includes all of us. Together, we can support, encourage, and come around these brave children, letting them know they are not alone in the fight and that together, we can kick cancer for good!