A Little More Hope For The Hopeless // Leukemia

In my previous blog post, I discussed the different probabilities, the age range, and the multiple kinds of attractions for Leukemia. I explained my reasoning behind why I wanted to focus on this topic and gave various details about what Leukemia was as a variation of cancer. I noted that not everyone who is diagnosed with Leukemia has a high survival rate, depending on the type of Leukemia that you attract.


25% of all kids who are diagnosed with cancer will die. Remember that? Well, I didn't explain that fully until now. Leukemia has an 85% survival rate for each patient. Each patient has the same chances of surviving this disease, no matter what medications/drugs they took during the time. This is one of a plethora of information that I have gotten from my time at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia (CHOP)

As this second blog will continues to shed light on the topic of Leukemia, I have returned from a 3 hour tour of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. With the consent of Dr. Abby Green, I have acquired an abundant amount of information, learned the ins and outs of Leukemia and how it doesn't just affect the children diagnosed with it, but the families as well.


My interview and field observation was taken with Dr. Abby Green, an oncologist pediatric, who works with patients diagnosed with Leukemia frequently at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She has been admitted to this hospital once she exited medical school and has been assisting over 100 children for 8 years so far. Throughout my tour and interview, I got to see different patients and their recent statuses on how well they are taking this disease. Some were surviving and were being dismissed early. Others weren't so fortunate. It's hard to roam the halls and hear the voices of children, yelping in pain and agony. But I persevered and continued on with my tour with Dr. Green. When I first started asking Dr. Green my questions about Leukemia, it seemed like her mindset was up all night, waiting to answer these questions that would change her life forever.



A Hallway dedicated to patients that have been released from the hospital (Left). A patient of Dr. Green that has been admitted out and placed into this hallway (Right).


With Dr. Green's assistance and her 8 years of experience, diversifying and deeming with information will be useful from here on out will be hassle-free. With the information that I gathered from Dr. Green, I can use that as a foundation for what information I can use to build off of it. This will help add on to my new information with new upgraded statistics, rather than those from about 2012. Her responses are influential to my mindset of this disease. After going in to take a tour of the hospital, my mind has not been the same ever since my trip. I've often gone back to think about the screaming children which definitely disrupts my focus often now. Getting a firsthand experiences really did open my eyes a little. And it even put a little but of tears in them as well. Going from not knowing much about Leukemia to knowing enough to keep you up and night was definitely something that I'm happy I realized.






(Left) A Family Room that is located on the third floor, right outside of the Oncology offices. (Right) Displayed artwork of children with Leukemia that was made within the family room.

For my "Agent of Change: Blog Post #3", I think I will plan on volunteering at Ronald McDonalds House of Charity. I will try my best to volunteer here and go back to the Children's Hospital to help with one of the Family Rooms. For those that don't know, Family Room's are selected rooms that are scattered across CHOP. They are there to give moral support to children and families by giving them different activities. For children and families alike, coping with Leukemia is a very difficult process, and by volunteering with this organization, I can try my best to explain my personal stories and also give different families that have been affected by this disease moral support and sympathy.


Comments (1)

Arielle Moore (Student 2018)
Arielle Moore

I loved your topic! I never realized how many children were diagnosed with this disease, and to see that you're helping with it is amazing. "Yelping in pain and agony" thanks Sam, putting the image of sad children in my mind, ruining my happy day:(. Just kidding, but that line stood out to me a lot because it adds to the actuality of this illness and the stain it has on our society.