| Show DAVID WELCH ponders a possible future football career if recent developments in cancer treatment are Recent advances may save his life David Welch is a healthy four-month-old baby-on But inside rages the dread disease which normally attacks people well beyond David's David has David has never been He's not had a or or any other common ailment of In everything seemed perfectly normal until a swelling appeared on David's Less than 24 hours David was in the University of Utah Medical Center pediatric undergoing extensive These included blood bone urine tests and an intravenous special test in which dye is injected into a vein and then followed by x-rays while it is excreted into the kidneys and When the testing was surgeons removed the tumor and one as well as nearby lymph The diagnosis was The medical team spent a considerable amount of time discussing the treatment and prognosis with family tumor is one of several which occur in It usually is discovered between birth and 4 years of and some consider it a congenital All current evidence indicates that the development of tumor cannot be caused or prevented by care given to the child before or after It is not inherited and probably represents abnormal cellular development in the The usual treatment is surgery combined with chemotherapy andor the survival rate has increased dramatically in the past five years and tumor is considered highly Following David's physicians began a series of chemotherapy About three weeks after entering the David was released and returned to He returns weekly for with a week of daily injections planned in the near David's Lyn and Joe are naturally concerned about David's but they are encouraged by his continued healthy So it's hard to believe that David has such a serious While David was in Salt Lyn remained at his side nearly back in she and Joe are once in a to share David with his grandmothers or who all live in David is responding well to all the extra attention he is Always a well-cared-for and loved he is really the center of attention The drugs used in chemotherapy for David include two not in use six that's how fast developments His physicians obtain information from a network of people working with tumor in other parts of the U.S. Just as children grow so does the information about successfully treating cancers in their young Everyone concerned with David hopes that recent advances in cancer treatment will help save his precious Anyone concerned with children should read the accompanying article on childhood which includes a listing of warning |
