In the news: Dec 31, 2007

Monday, December 31, 2007

Number one for Bianca

GREER McDONALD - The Dominion Post | Friday, 07 December 2007

ANDREW GORRIE

BAD HAIR DAYS OVER: Lea White, whose daughter Bianca has leukaemia, shaved her hair to raise money for the Child Cancer Foundation.
Growing up with cancer

The irony of being given a shampoo sample when she arrived to get her head shaved for a cancer fundraiser is not lost on Lea White.

Growing up with cancer

The mother of two said it would come in handy one day, tucked it in the back pocket of her jeans and hurried to join the masses who had gathered in Wellington's Civic Square yesterday.

"At least I won't have a bad hair day tomorrow," she said.

The event - Funrazor - raised about $50,000 in Wellington in support of the Child Cancer Foundation, with more than 70 people, including 10 policemen, signing up to lose their tresses in the name of charity.

It is a foundation close to Mrs White's heart, after her four-year-old daughter, Bianca, was diagnosed in June with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

"It feels like a prison sentence at the start, but the Child Cancer Foundation gave us a lot of emotional support, petrol and meal vouchers, and even just offering us magazines to read," she said.

Bianca has been receiving treatment, including chemotherapy, since June, and her daily battles have been chronicled on The Dominion Post website through a blog written by her mother.

It was second time around yesterday for Mrs White, who shaved her head when Bianca's hair began to fall out after her first rounds of treatment in June.

"But that time it was a No 4 ," she said of the shave length. This time she decided on a No 1, but admitted to being apprehensive.

As her hair began to fall, the hairdresser declared that Mrs White's head was beautiful. "I feel beautiful," Mrs White said in front of a rapturous crowd.

Bianca was unable to view her mother's daring shave because she was in hospital to receive antibiotics intravenously.

Child Cancer Foundation spokesman Bob Knighton said he felt humbled by those who got their heads shaved - especially the women.

"To lose your hair as a woman is a major sacrifice, but it sends a message of support straight out to families."

He said the foundation did not receive government or other support from cancer-related foundations, so all money raised was well used.

Not all families spending time together at Christmas

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Not all families spending time together at Christmas
25-Dec 20:10
The Milne family

While Christmas is generally the time of year when families get together to celebrate the festive season, some families are kept apart for reasons they cannot control or even predict.

A shortage of paediatric oncologists in Wellington means 2-year-old Kyah Milne and her family are spending Christmas Day in Christchurch’s Ronald McDonald House.

“Our normal Christmases are usually spent up north and they are very big occasions,” Jason Milne told 3 News. “It’s a bit quiet this year, we miss the old Christmases but this one is different.”

The Milnes are one of three Wellington families spending the festive season down south.

They hope that by next Christmas, Wellington’s paediatric cancer ward will have enough staff so other families like theirs can be together for Christmas.

Kyah has been in Christchurch Hospital since July, but was released yesterday.

“That was our best Christmas presenter ever,” Mr Milne said. “She’s been in hospital for quite a while and she got released yesterday until the 3rd of January.”

Families are also separated by tensions abroad.

400 Defence Force personnel are serving overseas this Christmas.

One of them is Graham Foleni. He is currently posted in East Timor and is missing out on a traditional Rarotongan Christmas back home.

“I think he’ll be missing the raw fish and all his island foods,” his father Leva said.

Page URL:http://tv3.co.nz/tabid/213/Default.aspx?&articleID=42476

Deal to treat cancer kids

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Boards join forces to keep sick children in capital
RUTH HILL - The Dominion Post | Wednesday, 19 December 2007

Families of Wellington child cancer patients sent away from home for treatment are relieved that agreement has been reached with Christchurch on creating a joint paediatric oncology service.

At a meeting yesterday, clinical staff and managers from Capital and Coast and Canterbury district health boards drew up a memorandum of understanding for a joint service - the only hope of restoring tertiary, or advanced, services to the central region.

Since the sudden resignation of Wellington's second paediatric oncologist in July, at least 12 children have had to be sent to Auckland or Christchurch for treatment.

Jason Milne, whose daughter Kyah, 2, is having treatment in Christchurch, said joining forces with Canterbury was "a great idea and a big step forward ... Frankly, Wellington needs all the help it can get at the moment."

Though the agreement must be formally ratified by the boards in the new year, both have agreed in principle to the concept of a single child cancer service operating from sites in Christchurch and Wellington.

Canterbury's chief medical officer, Nigel Millar, said children would still need to travel to Christchurch or Auckland till two paediatric oncologists were appointed to Capital and Coast, but it was then hoped that children would be cared for in the centre closest to their homes.

Capital and Coast's clinical director of child health, Graeme Lear, said it had taken a tremendous amount of collaboration between the two clinical teams to get to this point.

"We are satisfied that we now have the basis of a safe, quality, sustainable service for children and their families in our region."

Five families from the central region are based in Christchurch at present. Some who had returned home were sent back to Christchurch this week because Wellington's remaining paediatric oncologist is on leave.

Kyah, who was diagnosed in July with a neuroblastoma, a rare cancer of the adrenal glands, is in isolation after a stem cell transplant, which followed surgery and several courses of chemotherapy. Mr Milne said it had not yet been confirmed whether the last part of her treatment - radiotherapy - would be done in Wellington or Christchurch.

Health Minister David Cunliffe welcomed the boards' decision, saying children and their families required certainty about where and when treatment would be given.

Wellington Child Cancer Foundation chairman John Robson said that, though he commended the hard work that had gone into creating a memorandum of understanding, he would "hold off celebrating" till Wellington had a second paediatric oncologist, which would allow sick children to stay near home.

"They've signed off on it, now let's see them deliver it," he said.

A locum is due to start in January for six months and recruitment efforts continue to find two permanent specialists before oncologist Anne Mitchell leaves next month.

Christmas no time to part

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RUTH HILL - The Dominion Post | Friday, 14 December 2007

PHIL REID/The Dominion Post

FAMILY BONDING: Elijah Utting-Parker, who has leukaeumia, will have to go to Christchurch for treatment over Christmas.
View video: Elijah won't be home for Christmas
Blog: Growing up with cancer

Little Elijah Utting-Parker won't be home for Christmas – but at least he will have his family around him.

View video: Elijah won't be home for Christmas
Blog: Growing up with cancer

Elijah's parents, Olivia Utting and Charlie Parker, learned on Tuesday that the three-year- old, who has an aggressive form of leukaemia, must get his next dose of chemotherapy in Christchurch because of staff shortages at Wellington Hospital. "It sucks – but he is under a high-risk treatment protocol and it's just not safe for him to stay here," Ms Utting said.

Initially they intended to leave Noah, 11, and two-year-old Taziyah with their grandparents in Wellington – but yesterday they decided to take the whole family.

"We didn't want to be split up for Christmas . . . It's hard when you are torn between your sick child who needs you, and your other kids who still need you."

Elijah's illness was diagnosed in July, days after the unit was forced to close to new patients with the departure of one of its two specialists.

"He was diagnosed on Monday night. By 2pm Tuesday we were in Christchurch," Ms Utting said. "We didn't even have time to digest the information, we just had to leave our other two kids and go . . . It was horrible."

They were there for six weeks. Transferring back to Wellington was also difficult because Elijah had got used to the nurses and doctors and the way things were done in Christchurch.

Wellington's remaining paediatric oncologist, Anne Mitchell, who departs in January, is on two weeks' leave after months of being on-call for 24 hours a day.

Because of the severe side-effects Elijah has suffered so far, he needs close monitoring.

For most of the past month – "the worst of his little life" – he has also been without his father, Charlie, who was in Ghana helping his own recently widowed mother. Now they only want to be together as a family.

Asked how he feels about going to Christchurch, Elijah said: "It's better to be home, isn't it?" Ms Utting said Elijah "doesn't really remember not being sick". "We tell him he has to get a little bit sick to get a lot better and he accepts that."

Capital and Coast's child health services manager Kaye Hudson said plans were in place for all Dr Mitchell's patients, to ensure that they did not miss any treatment.

Meanwhile, management and clinical representatives from Wellington Hospital are set to meet their counterparts from Canterbury District Health Board on Tuesday to decide a draft plan for a joint service for child cancer services.

Ms Hudson said the two services were already working closely together, with Canterbury's clinical leader visiting the Wellington unit weekly, and a Christchurch nurse leading a two- day teaching seminar for Wellington nurses working in paediatric oncology.

A locum was due to start a six-month contract next month and international recruitment efforts had attracted at least eight expressions of interest in the two permanent specialist positions.

* Olivia Utting discusses Elijah's cancer treatment at dompost.co.nz.

Locum to help fight against child cancer

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Cost to board revealed
RUTH HILL - The Dominion Post | Monday, 10 December 2007

THE PRESS

HEAVY BURDEN: Shanell Christian with her son Kaleb, 11, outside Christchurch hospital where the Christians' two-year-old daughter Kyah is being treated for neuroblastoma, a rare cancer of the adrenal glands.

Cancer battle goes online in face of treatment threat

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RUTH HILL - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 27 November 2007

REAL BATTLER: Bianca White with mum Lea is one of many children who could be affected if Wellington's child cancer services are downgraded permanently.

Four-year-old Bianca White has spent large chunks of the past six months in Wellington Hospital, cut off from her friends and the activities she once loved.
Blog: Growing up with cancer

Thousands of miles away in South Africa, her birth country, friends and family are able to follow her daily battle with cancer through her parents' online diary.

As well as reporting on Bianca's gruelling treatment, her mother, Lea White, chronicles "ordinary family life" with baby Caitlyn.

"We were devastated by the diagnosis," Mrs White says. "But right from the start we made the decision to stay positive so her life is not all about the cancer."

Bianca was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in June, two weeks before her birthday. `Bianca' means white and her mother says she lives up to her name. She was always pale and bruised easily - telltale signs of leukaemia - but she was so energetic her parents did not suspect there was a problem.

"She's always been the type to jump straight into anything."

But one day Mrs White was tying up her daughter's hair before her ballet lesson when she noticed a swollen gland on her neck. Blood tests revealed an abnormally high white cell count and Bianca was given an immediate transfusion.

In the first four months, Bianca spent 65 days in hospital, 34 in isolation because of an infection.

She is now on stage three of her treatment, the "delayed intensification phase", with another two years of chemotherapy ahead. All going to plan, she will enter "maintenance" therapy in January, which will continue till late 2009.

The odds are good - her cancer has an 80 per cent survival rate - but life will never be the same.

The emotional, physical and financial toll on the family has been huge. They rely on one income and have had to hire a nanny to care for eight-month-old Caitlyn.

Despite everything, they strive to keep life "as normal as possible" at home in Papakowhai.

However, Mrs White fears that if Bianca had to leave for treatment at Christchurch or Auckland, and the family were split up, cancer would become "the whole focus".

The prognosis for Wellington Hospital's child cancer unit is uncertain as Capital and Coast District Health Board struggles to recruit two paediatric oncologists.

Since the first specialist left in June and the unit was forced to shut to new patients, nine children have been sent out of town for treatment.

The remaining specialist, Anne Mitchell, steps down in January.

Mrs White says if Bianca had to be transferred, the family would move. "I don't want to put her through the pain of a broken home."

Lifeline for child cancer patients

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LANE NICHOLS and PAUL EASTON - The Dominion Post | Saturday, 10 November 2007

Wellingotn's embattled child cancer service has been offered a life-saving deal in a bid to stop sick children being sent out of town for treatment.

But it depends on Capital and Coast District Health Board recruiting two child cancer specialists for a service on the brink of death.

Yesterday, Canterbury District Health Board agreed in principle to a shared clinical arrangement to bolster the Wellington service and make it more attractive to paediatric oncologists.

If successful, children with cancer will no longer be sent to Auckland or Christchurch for treatment. Nine have been forced to do so since July.

Wellington lost one of its two child cancer specialists in July and its remaining paediatric oncologist, Anne Mitchell, has resigned and is due to finish at the end of January.

The staff shortage plunged the service into crisis, stripping it of its tertiary status to provide initial assessments and complex therapy.

Capital and Coast approached Canterbury last month to ask for the two child cancer services to work together.

Canterbury chief medical officer Nigel Millar said the board agreed in principle yesterday.

Though Canterbury's two paediatric oncologists would not treat or assess Wellington patients, the clinical director would help organise the Wellington service so patients could be treated there.

Recruiting two new specialists remained a challenge but would be easier with support of Canterbury clinicians, Dr Millar said.

"This is really good for the children and their families. It's good for the development of the service because it gets those specialists working as part of a team."

Dr Millar could not say when the arrangement would be in place but said Canterbury would expect reimbursement.

Capital and Coast chairwoman Judith Aitken said she was pleased the deal had been accepted. Clinicians from both services would begin planning next week.

Wellington was working to fill its two vacancies, a spokesman said.

However, the parents of young patients were wary last night.

Leanne Palenski, whose 13-year-old daughter Shannon has a brain tumour, said nothing had changed.

"We want to see a rock-solid guarantee, not half-baked promises."

The Government should step in to ensure there were proper child cancer services in Wellington.

"What's it going to take, a kid dying? Someone has to stand up for them and make sure they get the treatment they deserve," she said.

Natasha Sadler's son, Memphis Pitman, 13, is being treated at Starship hospital in Auckland. She said she would not take Memphis to Wellington Hospital, even if the deal meant new specialists were recruited.

"Even though it's a hassle and it takes him away from his family, we don't think they are equipped."

Yesterday's announcement came as a survey conducted at Capital and Coast District Health by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists showed a high level of disaffection among senior doctors in middle management. They say Wellington Hospital is heading for a "meltdown" as workforce shortages, staff burnout and unworkable policies compromise patient safety.

Child-cancer units in struggle for funding

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By RUTH HILL - The Dominion Post | Wednesday, 31 October 2007

Child cancer units in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch – the only three in the country offering advanced treatment for life-threatening cases – are chronically underfunded, health boards say.

Last year, Wellington Hospital's paediatric oncology unit spent $1.3 million more to treat child cancer patients than it received in Government funding.

Capital and Coast District Health Board's chief operating officer, Martin Hefford, told the board Health Ministry funding had not kept pace with costs.

"It has got to be priced in a way that gives us full cost of the service."

The unit, which serves the lower North Island, was forced to close its doors to new patients in July when one of its two specialists left for Australia.

So far at least eight child patients have been sent to Auckland or Christchurch for treatment.

The board has been negotiating with Canterbury to set up a joint service, but the plans have been jeopardised by the resignation last week of the remaining paediatric oncologist, Anne Mitchell, who leaves in January.

A report prepared for the board showed the unit was $322,000 in the red last year in direct costs and also overspent $857,000 on support services and corporate overheads.

Christchurch Hospital's unit blew its budget by $70,000 in the first three months of the 2007-08 financial year.

A board spokeswoman said it cost about $3.7 million a year in direct operating expenditure to run Canterbury's paediatric oncology unit.

The price paid for child cancer services by the Health Ministry mainly reflected "secondary" procedures and did not adequately compensate tertiary care, she said.

The charges for child cancer treatments are set by the National Pricing Committee, a combined DHB and ministry group, which is not due to meet again till mid-2008.

It could be February 2010 before there is some relief for cash-strapped child cancer units.

Hefford said the Wellington unit – which has lowest patient numbers – was the "lowest-cost provider" of child cancer services nationwide.

Wellington cancer patients had the least money spent on them of all three tertiary units: an average of $4471.22 per treatment, or 85.3 per cent of the national average of $5240.69 – partly because some more advanced treatments are not available there.

Auckland spent an average of $6178.33 per treatment while Canterbury patients had $5144.88 spent on them.

"A variety of factors, including lower capital costs, contribute to lower overall costs," Hefford said.

The Health Ministry's sector accountability and funding manager, John Hazeldine, said district health boards were funded on the population-based funding formula – not for specific services like child cancer. –Dominion Post

Child cancer under-funded, say DHBs

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Ministry money has fallen behind costs
RUTH HILL - The Dominion Post | Wednesday, 31 October 2007

Child cancer units in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch - the only three offering advanced treatment for life-threatening cases - are chronically underfunded, say health boards.
Editorial: Facing failure in cancer wards

Last year Wellington Hospital's paediatric oncology unit spent $1.3 million more to treat child cancer patients than it received in government funding.

Capital and Coast District Health Board's chief operating officer, Martin Hefford, told the board Health Ministry funding had not kept pace with costs. "It's got to be priced in a way that gives us full cost of the service."

The unit, which serves the lower North Island, was forced to close its doors to new patients in July when one of its two specialists left for Australia. So far at least eight child patients have been sent to Auckland or Christchurch for treatment.

The board has been negotiating with Canterbury DHB to set up a joint service, but the plans have been jeopardised by the resignation last week of Wellington's remaining paediatric oncologist, Anne Mitchell, who leaves in January.

A report prepared for the board showed the unit was $322,000 in the red last year in direct costs and also overspent $857,000 on support services (including radiology, pharmacy and laboratory tests) and corporate overheads.

Christchurch Hospital's unit blew its budget by $70,000 in the first three months of the 2007-08 financial year. A board spokeswoman said it cost about $3.7million a year in direct operating expenditure to run Canterbury's paediatric oncology.

The price paid for child cancer services by the Health Ministry mainly reflected "secondary" procedures and did not adequately compensate tertiary care, she said.

The charges for child cancer treatments are set by the National Pricing Committee, a combined DHB and ministry group, which is not due to meet again till mid-2008.

It could be February 2010 before there is some relief for cash-strapped child cancer units.

Mr Hefford said the Wellington unit, which has the lowest patient numbers, was the "lowest-cost provider" of child cancer services.

Wellington cancer patients had the least money spent on them of all three tertiary units: an average of $4471.22 per treatment, or 85.3 per cent of the national average of $5240.69 - partly because some more advanced treatments are not available in Wellington.

Auckland spent an average of $6178.33 per treatment while Canterbury patients had $5144.88 spent on them. "A variety of factors, including lower capital costs, contribute to lower overall costs," Mr Hefford said.

The Health Ministry's sector accountability and funding manager, John Hazeldine, said boards were funded on the population-based funding formula - not for specific services such as child cancer.

Editorial: Facing failure in cancer wards

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The Dominion Post | Wednesday, 31 October 2007

There can be few things more devastating for parents than being told their child has cancer, The Dominion Post writes.

The anguish and stress are unimaginable. That is why it is unacceptable to add to the almost unbearable burden that children diagnosed with cancer and their parents face. That is why Capital and Coast District Health Board must do whatever is necessary to stop families being split up because treatment cannot be provided at Wellington Hospital.

The board's child health manager, Kaye Hudson, says the board regrets the "inconvenience to parents and their families" of having to go elsewhere for tertiary treatment. That trivialises it. An inconvenience is having to wait an hour or two to be seen in accident and emergency with a sore finger. It is not being told that your family cannot be together as one of its members battles for his or her life, and that a desperately sick child must travel to Auckland or Christchurch, far away from the friends and family who can provide support during debilitating treatment.

It is a disgrace, not an inconvenience, and an indictment on the management of Capital and Coast District Health. The excuses they offer for shortfalls in services are sounding increasingly thin. The board lost one child cancer specialist in July. Now Anne Mitchell has also announced she is departing, and Wellington Hospital is left with no child cancer specialists.

New Zealand cannot and should not offer advanced child cancer treatment in every provincial city. That is neither viable nor sensible. However, Wellington is not a provincial city. It is the capital city, with a hospital expected to provide tertiary services for the whole lower North Island. Nor are the problems with providing cancer treatment to children the only area in which Capital and Coast District Health Board struggles.

This March three anaesthetics staff stepped down from positions, threatening the hospital's ability to train anaesthetists, though one subsequently withdrew his resignation.

Other specialists have also had enough. In the same month surgeon John Keating resigned from general surgery, citing as one factor access to operating theatres, which he said often left surgeons waiting hours for a theatre to become available for acute surgery.

The ongoing problems the board has in providing mental health services are well known.

Capital and Coast is not the only district health board to face problems in both attracting and retaining staff. In the 18 months to July, New Zealand lost at least 80 specialists, but that is no excuse for what is happening in Wellington.

Earlier this year when National questioned the health spending, Health Minister Pete Hodgson trumpeted a 25.3 per cent jump in the number of medical staff between 2001 and 2006, and a 24.1 per cent increase in the number of nurses over the same period.

He would do better to be asking why, with those staffing increases, and a health budget of $11.3 billion, two-year-old cancer-sufferer Kyah Milne cannot get the treatment she needs in her hometown of Wellington.

No birthday in isolation ward for little Kyah

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The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 30 October 2007

DEAN KOZANIC/ The Press

MASSIVE STRAIN: Wellington couple Jason Milne and Shanell Christian with daughter Kyah who will have surgery in Christchurch on tumours in her neck and abdomen.

Little Kyah Milne turns two in a couple of weeks, but there will be no party.

She will be in an isolation ward at Christchurch Hospital recovering from major surgery.

The Wellington toddler - sent to Christchurch less than 24 hours after a cancer diagnosis in July - came home last week for time with her father and brothers before surgery today on tumours in her neck and abdomen.

She has already had several gruelling chemotherapy sessions to shrink the tumours from the neuroblastoma, a rare cancer of the adrenal glands mainly affecting children under five.

After the operation, she will undergo a harvest of stem cells, which build and repair tissue and blood systems. She will then face radiotherapy treatment to fight the cancer, and have a stem cell transplant to replace the cells. The process is required because radiotherapy can destroy bone marrow, where normal blood cells are produced.

Kyah's father, Jason Milne, said she would stay in isolation for many weeks as her immune system would be vulnerable, but the family hoped to be reunited by the end of the year.

He has cut down his work hours to look after Kaleb, 11, and Jordan, 6, while his partner Shanell Christian stays in Christchurch with Kyah. "It's been a massive strain on all of us," he said. "But I can't imagine how hard it would be if I didn't have a sympathetic employer or family to help carry the load."

Mr Milne's mother looks after the boys when he goes to Christchurch every second week, and other family members have taken time off work to help out.

Though official health board policy says only one caregiver gets free travel, Capital and Coast District Health Board has been picking up the tab for Mr Milne's flights to Christchurch, and the Child Cancer Foundation has paid for the boys' plane tickets a few times.

He said his sons struggled with being separated from their mother and baby sister.

"Kaleb found it particularly hard because he's old enough to understand what the implications are for Kyah."

Kaleb said it was hard at first when Kyah lost her hair: "But now we look at photos of her with hair and it's like `Who's that?"'

He described his little sister as "very funny and loud". "She's the boss of the house and now she's the boss of the hospital too."

Mr Milne, commenting on the resignation of Dr Anne Mitchell, Wellington's sole remaining child cancer specialist, said it would have been a very difficult decision. "I think it took real guts on her part ... if she felt like she was bashing her head against a brick wall and nothing was going to change, she's right to resign."

Struggle to recruit cancer specialsts

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RUTH HILL - The Dominion Post | Monday, 29 October 2007

Wellington's embattled child cancer unit will struggle to recruit specialists now that its last remaining paediatric oncologist has resigned, says the union representing senior clinicians.

Anne Mitchell, who has been working alone since her colleague Liz Hesketh left for Australia in July, has told the board she will finish at the end of January.

Dr Mitchell has declined to comment publicly, but it is believed that she has not yet accepted another position.

Parents told The Dominion Post Dr Mitchell was "working around the clock" to look after desperately ill patients.

Ian Powell, chief executive of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, said it was going to be "very, very difficult" for Capital and Coast District Health Board to recruit two specialists and restore tertiary (advanced) services.

"This is a symptom of the medical workforce crisis in this country, which affects smaller district health boards and smaller services within bigger DHBs."

He said previous reports had highlighted the need for three paediatric oncologists in Wellington, but that level was never achieved.

Prior to Dr Mitchell's arrival, Dr Hesketh had been the sole specialist for some time.

"It was two for a while, but now they are down to one, and that's no longer sustainable for that person.

"It would have to be an extraordinary individual, someone taking altruism to an extreme level, to want to work under those conditions."

Mr Powell, whose organisation is stuck in a long-running pay dispute with district health boards, said New Zealand would continue to struggle to attract specialists when Australian hospitals were offering 50 per cent to 100 per cent higher base salaries.

Advice to Capital and Coast last month was that unless an agreement was forged to create a single virtual tertiary centre within three months, the Wellington unit should stop managing new patients independently and downgrade permanently to a secondary unit.

This would mean all new patients would be referred to Auckland or Christchurch.

A spokeswoman for Capital and Coast said despite Dr Mitchell's resignation, the board was continuing negotiations with Canterbury District Health Board over plans for a combined service, which would allow the restoration of tertiary services in Wellington.

Recruitment had begun for two replacement specialists, and the board was "pressing ahead" with plans for the development of a dedicated paediatric oncology area, she said.

Grieving mum fights for service

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KERI WELHAM - The Dominion Post | Monday, 29 October 2007

Supplied

PUPPY LOVE: Braden Hook, 9, and Tyler the bichon frise get acquainted.

Braden Hook's last days were spent cuddling the puppy he'd always wanted.

Tyler the bichon frise was a present from Palmerston North locals who had learned of nine-year-old Braden's heartbreakingly swift decline in the grip of a rare and aggressive cancer.

Bronwyn Hook hopes her son's story will drive other parents to fight for the future of Wellington Hospital's child cancer service.

Braden died in August. Five months earlier, the sporty, affectionate, laidback Central Normal School pupil had taken an unusually long time to recover from a tummy bug - the first, seemingly-inconsequential symptom of an aggressive tumour in his adrenal gland that would eventually measure 13cm in diameter.

By May, Palmerston North Hospital staff had diagnosed cancer, but a full and accurate diagnosis was not available till June after tests at Wellington Hospital.

The tumour was too big to remove so Braden had three rounds of chemotherapy, but eventually, with secondary cancer in his lungs, specialists realised that more treatment would kill the increasingly fragile child more swiftly.

Bronwyn and Tim Hook took their eldest son home to die. He spent seven weeks with Tyler and his family, including his brother Nathan, 7, and friends, teachers and classmates.

Mrs Hook said she had told Braden it was possible he would die. He never questioned that reality, but she believed he was scared.

"For a nine-year-old, they have the understanding it's all okay. Mum and Dad will fix it."

During Braden's treatment at Wellington Hospital, his brother and best friend visited regularly. His father was able to stay in Ronald McDonald House while Mrs Hook slept at Braden's bedside.

Mr Hook and Nathan would not have been able to stay or visit regularly if he had been treated in Auckland or Christchurch.

Mrs Hook said she did not want her taxes spent on the additional $10 million pledged to the America's Cup after this year's failed campaign: "Is that really that important? What about life?"

With Wellington Hospital back in crisis mode with the departure of the sole remaining child cancer specialist, she feared other families would be forced apart when they most needed each other. Mrs Hook urged families in the lower North Island to lobby for more funding to ensure the service's future.

"Everyone needs to do as much as they can to keep the service. I can't imagine having to travel to Auckland and Christchurch."

Where she goes, we go says cancer girl's mum

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KERRY WILLIAMSON - The Dominion Post | Saturday, 27 October 2007

ROSS GIBLIN/The Dominion Post

UNCERTAIN FUTURE: Lea White and Bianca, 4, who has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. If she requires treatment outside Wellington, Mrs White says the family will move, too.

Lea White fears she may have to uproot her family and move them out of Wellington to ensure her young daughter lives to see her fifth birthday.

Out of town care 'too tough'
View video: Memphis' battle with cancer
Cancer kids to travel for at least six months
Last child cancer doc quits

She and husband Terence fear that, if four-year-old leukaemia patient Bianca gets sicker than she already is, she may need tertiary care.

But with Wellington Hospital unlikely to offer that for at least six months after the resignation of its only two cancer child specialists, that would mean a trip to clinics in either Auckland or Christchurch.

It would also mean a long stay for Bianca well away from the comforts of home, her parents and eight-month-old sister, Caitlyn.

"It's just so much easier to have her treated here, but now with no oncologist we just don't know what's going to happen," Mrs White, of Papakowhai, Porirua, said.

"If she had to go somewhere else, there's no way I would separate her from the family. I am not prepared to split up the family unit, so we would all move together.

"In the back of your mind you can't be unprepared. If it does come to that, we are going to have to consider it - there's no other way."

Bianca was found to have acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in June, two weeks before her fourth birthday.

Her treatments do not yet require her to travel out of Wellington. However, with the resignation of paediatric oncologist Anne Mitchell last week, the Whites are concerned that could change.

Early in her treatment, Bianca had to spent 34 nights in isolation at Wellington Hospital to protect her from the risk of infection.

Her parents fear that, if she needed isolation again, it would be in an unfamiliar ward well away from home.

"My daughter is only four," Mrs White said. "It took her a really long time to get used to everybody here. If we have to be stuck in Christchurch, her whole life would be her illness."

Capital and Coast District Health Board is advertising for two new paediatric oncologists and is negotiating a partnership deal with Canterbury DHB. However, Wellington's child cancer clinic is unlikely to offer advanced care for at least six months.

Dr Mitchell, who was not available for comment yesterday, was involved in Bianca's treatment from the beginning.

Mrs White says she is devastated that her daughter's oncologist is leaving, and is angry that the situation at Wellington Hospital has reached this point.

She hopes a replacement for Dr Mitchell can be found soon, and that a commitment will be made to ensuring tertiary treatment is available in Wellington long-term. "I want them to consider that it's people they are dealing with."

Cancer kids to travel for at least six months

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'Where the hell do you go?'
By KERRY WILLIAMSON - The Dominion Post | Friday, 26 October 2007

SICK KIDS: Already this year, 26 young children with various forms of cancer have been through Wellington Hospital, including (from top left, clockwise) Bianca, Taylor, Chelsea and Kenneth. Nine of the 26 have been forced out of the region to undergo treatment elsewhere.

Sick cancer kids in need of potentially life-saving treatment will continue to be sent out of the lower North Island for at least another six months.

Out of town care 'too tough' for cancer families + video

That hinges on a deal that is yet to be signed between the Capital and Coast and Canterbury district health boards - and the ability of Capital and Coast to recruit child cancer specialists who are already thin on the ground.

Until those two issues are resolved, Wellington Hospital will farm out children to Auckland or Christchurch.

"We won't reopen as a tertiary centre until we have got the resources," said Martin Hefford, chief operating officer for Capital and Coast.

"We absolutely regret having to tell families and their children that they have to go to Auckland for treatment, but that's better than us trying to provide care without adequate resources."

The child cancer clinic at Wellington Hospital has been offering secondary care since July, after being stripped of its tertiary status following the resignation of paediatric oncologist Liz Hesketh.

The crisis at the beleaguered clinic deepened on Wednesday with the resignation of its sole remaining cancer doctor, Anne Mitchell, who will leave in January.

"They need to consider that it's people they are dealing with here," said Lea White, whose four-year-old daughter, Bianca, has a form of leukaemia. "I'm really disappointed it's got to this point."

Leanne Palenski questioned what she would do if her 13-year-old daughter, Shannon - who has a brain tumour - gets sicker. The pair would normally travel to Wellington from their home in Masterton and would struggle to get to either Auckland or Christchurch because Shannon should not fly. "It makes you wonder where the hell you go," Ms Palenski said. "It's just disgusting."

Mr Hefford said the two oncology jobs should be filled in six months.

Nine children have been sent out of Wellington since July, six to Auckland and three to Christchurch. Some families have been forced to uproot their lives to be near their sick children. They are also burdened with extra costs - their local district health boards pick up the tab for travel and accommodation, but only for the sick child and one caregiver.

If a mother and father want to be together with their child, they have to pay the additional costs themselves.

Mr Hefford would not reveal how much transferring young patients to other centres has cost so far.

Health Minister Pete Hodgson was questioned on the Wellington situation in Parliament yesterday and said he was concerned.

Margaret Alve, Family Support Coordinator for the Child Cancer Foundation, said the Wellington service had been under-resourced for at least eight years.

The health region needed a separate paediatric oncology unit to protect vulnerable child cancer patients from bugs and infections. "It's not only about funding two paediatric oncologists."

Mrs Alve said the long-term future of the cancer service was in jeopardy if its problems could not be solved by the start of next year.

"If we don't manage it now, we never will," she said.

Cancer kids to travel for at least six months

Click here to read the original article

'Where the hell do you go?'
KERRY WILLIAMSON - The Dominion Post | Friday, 26 October 2007

Supplied

Bianca

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Taylor

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Chelsea

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Saletile

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Kenneth

These are the human faces of Capital and Coast DHB's child cancer crisis. Already this year, 26 young children with various forms of cancer have been through Wellington Hospital. Nine of those kids have been forced out of the region to undergo treatment elsewhere. Six have gone to Auckland's Starship hospital, and three have been sent to Canterbury. Until two new paediatric oncologists can be found for Wellington, children as young as three will have to leave their homes in order to be treated.

Sick cancer kids in need of potentially life-saving treatment will continue to be sent out of the lower North Island for at least another six months.
Lifeline for child cancer patients
Call to keep up service for kids with cancer