Page 3535 - Week 11 - Thursday, 24 September 2015
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For adolescents and young adults, some care is provided by the adult cancer service in certain clinical circumstances, often in collaboration with a service in Sydney. The best outcome for these patients and their families requires close cooperation with the large centres in Sydney and occasionally in Melbourne, and with the Canberra Hospital. That being said, some supportive care and maintenance-type treatment for children with cancer is provided by the generalist paediatric physicians based at Canberra Hospital.
In my time as an MLA I have had the privilege of meeting two inspiring families from the Gungahlin region who have each lost a child to brain cancer. Recently I have been working with them to look at options to make the lives of those living through the trauma of a child with cancer more manageable through specialist support.
Just last Saturday I attended the sixth annual Benny Wills gala dinner. Benny Wills was four years old when he died of diffuse pontine glioma, an inoperable brain stem tumour with a prognosis of just 12 months to live. DPG is a 100 per cent fatal disease, amongst the worst in the class of brain cancers amongst children, a terrible fact within the awful fact that brain cancer is the biggest killer of Australia’s children.
Benny’s mum and dad, Imogen and Dave, set up a foundation in his name to raise money for research into this rare but very deadly form of cancer. Through the significant contributions raised through events such as their annual dinner and with additional funding in the form of a grant from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the head researcher on the project, Dr David Ziegler, has been able to hire a full-time and highly qualified research assistant. The money has also enabled them to purchase all the culture materials required to successfully grow DIPG neurospheres in the laboratory. The small team have successfully grown DIPG neurospheres and are in the process of testing the effects of thousands of drugs on cells, with some promising signs of success. I wish them every success in finding a cure.
Young adults with more common problems such as germ cell tumours and haematological malignancy are usually treated solely by the Canberra-based service at Canberra Hospital. The Division of Cancer, Ambulatory and Community Health Support employs an adolescent and young adult nurse care coordinator who provides a key point of linkage for adolescents receiving primary treatment in Sydney. Since February 2014 this coordinator has received 40 new referrals for patients receiving treatment in Canberra as well as those returning from Sydney.
Paediatric palliative care is predominantly provided through Clare Holland House by a paediatric multidisciplinary team. The Canberra Hospital palliative care team will provide a consultation service for neonates and children when they are within Canberra Hospital, in collaboration with specialists. Adolescent patients receive palliative care within Canberra Hospital through the CACHS team and are referred to Clare Holland House for community and hospice support. Health professionals and families largely agree, though, that palliative care is best provided close to or at home.
As part of this government’s commitment towards research and improving treatments for cancer patients, funding was provided to the Australian National University to assist in the establishment of a centenary chair in cancer research. Professor Ross
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