New Westminster MLA Judy Darcy is elated that survivors of childhood cancer will be getting a clinic of their own.
Darcy, the NDP health critic, has been pressing the government to create a clinic to address the needs for helping those who have suffered from childhood cancer.
“These are people who have been bumped around the health-care system for 10 or 20 years often, with none of their health specialists understanding that what they are dealing with right now has to do with the treatment they got as kids,” Darcy told the Record. “This is treatment that saved their lives, it was the best treatment available, but they didn’t know they would have secondary unrelated cancers, organ failures, all these things. Now they are going to have one place to go to.”
Adults who once battled childhood cancers have faced a wide range of health issues as adults. They’ve been seeking a treatment centre that addresses the complex physical and mental issues arising from their childhood cancer treatments.
According to Darcy, the government’s decision is important for the 3,500 survivors of childhood cancer living in B.C.
“They said, ‘Will you be our advocate?’ I listened to their stories and said, ‘Of course I will.’ I went to bat for them – that’s my job,” she said. “That’s what I was elected to do.”
According to the B.C. Cancer Agency, adult survivors of childhood cancer who suffer from the effects of their cancer treatment will have support through the adult childhood cancer survivorship program, which will be a program dedicated to the clinical and research needs of adult childhood cancer survivors.
The program will build on the existing expertise and resources for B.C. Children’s Hospital, the B.C. Cancer Agency and primary care providers.
