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Show Cancer Society Stages Summer Spectacular Mon. At.WX High WOODS CROSS - The American Cancer Society will present a summer spectacular on Monday, July 25, at Woods Cross High football stadium, beginning at 7:30 p.m. THE EVENT, which will feature fe-ature Dick Nourse of KSL Television. Special guests will be the Candlelighters Association Associa-tion comprised of children who have, or have conquered cancer. The program will feature the Sunshine Generation, Valley Fever Band, Stars, Pep Arts Potpourri, a fireworks display and a stomp for teens. ADMISSION is $6 per family, fami-ly, $3 for the show and stomp, and $2 for the stomp only. All of us have experienced some very wonderful and well meaning events in our lives-high lives-high school, college graduation, gradua-tion, first job, first love, marriage, mar-riage, or children. Just as you have experienced these things you make plans for your own children-having high hopes and big dreams for them. ONE DAY your child becomes be-comes ill, you really don't think much about it and you take the child to the doctor-all at once your world caves in, your dreams are shattered, your child has cancer. Those words can be the most devastating devas-tating a parent ever hears. The shock, pain, frustration, and fear overwhelm the parent. Mr. and Mrs. Blaine Flint of Layton experienced this fear and disbelief that cancer could strike a child, especially their child, an infant of 3Vi months. TENNILLE Flint was diagnosed di-agnosed in August 1979 with a pelvic Rabdomyosarcoma, a malignant tumor. As with all parents, Mr. and Mrs. Flint have to experience several emotional stages after learning their daughter had cancer. According to Mrs. Flint, these stages are similar to those a person experience after af-ter the death of a loved one. The shock of diagnosis is usually accompanied by anger and fear. GUILT CAN accompany the first stage or come as a second step. Bargaining is a common stage but not experienced by all, and acceptance is the final most difficult step to achieve. The parent must say "My child has cancer and there is nothing I could have done to prevent it . He has to have treatment and our lives have to be as normal as possible, living one day at a time and enjoying it." WHILE CANCER is rare as a childhood disease, it is the second most frequent cause of death in children between the ages of 1 and 15, with accidents being first. It strikes without warning and without regard for i 1 age, sex, race, religion, or social so-cial status. When it does strike, it affects not only the child, but the whole family, parents, pa-rents, siblings, and grandparents. grandpa-rents. "Grandparents have a two-fold worry-their child, the parent and their grandchild," grand-child," says Mr. Flint. Childhood cancer is now being termed a chronic illness instead of a terminal illness, as children are living longer in re-mission re-mission and are being "cured." Overall about one-half one-half of the children diagnosed with cancer will be long-term survivors. "Cancer is not synonomous with death," Mrs. Flint says, and is not contagious con-tagious as some people in this very-educated society still believe." be-lieve." MR. AND Mrs. Flint say their involvement with Candlelighters, Cand-lelighters, (a parent-support group) at Primary Children's Medical Center helped them cope with their daughter's illness. ill-ness. They found the problems, prob-lems, questions and feelings mutual. "With medical professionals, profession-als, friends, clergy, counselors, counse-lors, or general public, we . found these people can sympathize sym-pathize and try to understand the true impact and feelings, whereas with another parent, when you say 'If he's going to die I wish he'd do it now' or 'I'm tired of seeing my child suffer', they know and really understand the underlying message because they are experiencing ex-periencing the same." LIVING IN southeastern Idaho, at the time of their daughter's illness they could not associate with the parents in Salt Lake as much as they wanted. Upon moving to Boise they found families there in need of a support group like the one in Salt Lake. They worked with the Idaho American Amer-ican Cancer Society, Mountain Moun-tain States Tumor Institute (local treatment center) and Dr. Bonita Vestal, pediatric oncologist, to organize the Idaho Ida-ho Candlelighters. THE Candlelighters Foundation Found-ation is an international nonprofit non-profit parent-support group organized in Washington, D.C. in 1970. Each satellite group provides various programs prog-rams such as one-to-one parent pa-rent support, monthly meetings meet-ings with speakers on problems prob-lems as sibling rivalry, discipline, disci-pline, nutrition, school, or finances, fi-nances, and patient-sibling rap sessions. The Candlelighters Foundation Founda-tion is considered an affiliate of the American Cancer Society working very close in all areas especially education the public as to the fact and fallicies of cancer. Mrs. Flint, Public Information In-formation Chairman for North Davis American Cancer Society, Socie-ty, feels involvement with organizations like the Amer- ican Cancer Society and Candlelighters Cand-lelighters help parents get a new grip on life and understand under-stand the disease and the human hu-man side of cancer. ACCORDING to Mrs. Flint, "Children like Tennille are becoming be-coming long term survivors thanks to research provide., generous donations ic,: American Cancer Society ter numerous surgeries ',1 currance of her tuni0,: radium implant, and tw0v of chemotherapy, j' now 4, is free of cancer ' years after treatment. ' |
