Art Ablin, MD, holds 2-year-old Sebastian Seidenberg at the San Francisco Zoo.
The Children's Cancer and Blood Disease Program at UCSF Children's Hospital hosted its first annual celebration for pediatric oncology patients and their families recently at the San Francisco Zoo.
UCSF pediatric cancer patients and their families had the opportunity to meet with peers with similar challenges and to get information about camps, a survivor clinic, support groups and the latest in cancer research.
Children also learned more about animals from experts at the San Francisco Zoo, got their faces painted and enjoyed a barbecue lunch with their families.
Kate Matthay, MD, an international leader in the treatment of a wide variety of childhood cancer and blood diseases, from diagnosis to cure and survival, greeted families at the event called "Celebrating Our Heroes."
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Angel Tapia, 11, trades his cap for an official San Francisco Fire Department helmet |
UCSF Children's Hospital has one of the world's leading programs in bone marrow transplantation, a life saving treatment for children with leukemia and lymphoma as well as diseases of the immune system, such as aplastic anemia.
UCSF is also a member of the Children's Oncology Group, a national organization of 150 pediatric cancer centers that explores new treatments for childhood cancer, and of New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Treatment (NANT), a federally funded consortium of universities and children's hospitals that tests promising new therapies for neuroblastoma, a common and often difficult-to-treat cancer.
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Rosalie Reibel, 3, looks at her painted face in a mirror. |
The UCSF Children's Hospital Survivors of Childhood Cancer Program is dedicated to assisting survivors of pediatric cancer to achieve and maintain optimal physical and emotional health through clinical care, education and research.
One of the nation's top children's hospitals, UCSF Children's Hospital creates a healing environment where children and their families find compassionate care at the healing edge of scientific discovery, with more than 150 experts in 50 medical specialties serving patients throughout Northern California and beyond.
Photos by Christine Jegan
