Pediatric Cancer

If your child has Ewing sarcoma, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital can provide care through our highly specialized pediatric and adolescent bone and sarcoma treatment team. This team includes the only two pediatric orthopedic oncology surgeons and the only sarcoma research oncologist in West Michigan. The bone and sarcoma multispecialty clinic allows patients to see a team of experts in a single visit. Our team is active in research to understand this cancer better and improve treatment options, as a member of the Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration and Children’s Oncology Group, among others. We offer the most current technology available to diagnose, treat, and beat, bone cancer.

Ewing sarcoma is a type of bone cancer that affects teens and young adults. It often develops along the spine and pelvis, or in the legs and arms.

Our pediatric and adolescent bone and sarcoma treatment team focuses on children, teenagers and young adults because kids need a different treatment approach than adults when it comes to all cancers, including Ewing sarcoma. Through our multispecialty clinic, patients see a team of experts in single visit. All patients are reviewed in a multispecialty team conference that includes surgical, medical and radiation oncology, pathology, radiology and many other specialists. This team approach gives us a well-rounded perspective as we design the most powerful path to successfully treat your son or daughter. Each patient has a nurse navigator and leaves with a detailed verbal and written care plan—a road map for their cancer care.

When surgery is needed to remove tumors, we use the latest techniques to effectively remove the cancer. Our orthopedic oncology surgeons are also skilled at reconstructing complex areas, such as the spine and pelvis.

As a pediatric member of the national Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration, we’re also able to offer the latest clinical trials.

Our experienced pediatric oncology team can diagnose and treat all forms of childhood leukemia. We offer the latest in treatment options and national clinical trials for leukemia, as well as the only pediatric blood and bone marrow transplant program in West Michigan. Based on the type, your child’s age and many other factors, we’ll develop a personalized plan for your son or daughter, with the ultimate goal of a cure.

Leukemia refers to cancers of the white blood cells. The body produces large numbers of abnormal (leukemia) white blood cells, which crowd out the normal bone marrow and spread into the bloodstream. Leukemia is the most common form of childhood cancer, but most forms are also highly curable.

When your child is facing a diagnosis of leukemia, you can trust the pediatric oncology team at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. Our children's oncologists, nurses, pharmacists, social workers and other family-centered health care professionals focus their efforts on providing the most effective treatment possible.

Chemotherapy is the main treatment for childhood leukemia. Other treatments include radiation therapy and highly targeted immune and biologic therapies. A stem cell (blood or bone marrow) transplant may also be needed. If so, our blood and bone marrow transplant program is accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT), which means that we meet or exceed rigorous national quality standards for patient care and cell therapy treatments.

Our experienced pediatric oncology team is skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of both Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in children. We offer the very latest in treatment options and national clinical trials, and will develop a personalized plan for your son or daughter, with the goal of remission and a cure.

The term lymphoma refers to cancers that arise in the lymph nodes and lymphatic tissues. Lymphomas can be Hodgkin's or non-Hodgkin's, depending on the biology of the cancerous cells. Symptoms include swollen glands, unexplained cough, fever, weight loss, night sweats or shortness of breath. Lymphomas are the third most common cancer in children, but cure rates for most children are also very high.

At Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, our children's cancer team knows that treating a child who has lymphoma is very different than treating an adult. Our goal is to find the most effective treatment for your child with the smallest long-term impact on his or her growing body.

We are proud to be part of nationwide research in the most promising new treatments for childhood lymphomas. Many new immune therapies can more directly target lymphoma cells, avoiding damage to normal, non-cancerous body tissues. Kids with lymphoma sometimes receive immunotherapy along with long established treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation.

Our multidisciplinary team of experienced children’s cancer professionals at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital is uniquely qualified to provide hope and healing for children with high-risk cancers such as neuroblastoma. We are actively involved in ground-breaking research to further understand neuroblastoma and are proud to be at the forefront of advanced personalized medicine with national collaborations that are moving this research forward. This means we can offer your child and family leading-edge treatments for his or her specific genetic analysis that are showing the most encouraging results.

Neuroblastoma is a rare form of cancer that usually affects infants and young children. It is a solid cancerous tumor that typically starts in the tissue of the adrenal glands or spinal nerves, and then spreads to other parts of the body. Neuroblasts are immature nerve cells found in unborn babies. Normal neuroblasts mature into nerve cells or adrenal medulla cells, which are cells found in the center of the adrenal gland. Neuroblastoma forms when neuroblasts don’t mature properly. Sometimes, babies are born with small clusters of neuroblasts that eventually mature into nerve cells and do not become cancer. A neuroblast that does not mature can continue to grow, forming a mass called a tumor. With improved treatment, more and more children with neuroblastoma have a good chance of remission and a cure.

Our Haworth Innovative Therapeutics Clinic is a leader in precision medicine for childhood cancer. We are proud to offer young patients access to clinical trials and the latest treatment strategies for neuroblastoma. If surgery is needed as part of treatment, we collaborate with our pediatric surgeons and neurosurgeons, who are skilled at helping kids of all ages.

If your child is diagnosed with osteosarcoma, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital can provide a highly specialized pediatric and adolescent bone and sarcoma treatment team, including the only two pediatric orthopedic oncology surgeons in West Michigan. The bone and sarcoma multispecialty clinic allows patients to see a team of experts in a single visit. We offer the newest therapies and technology available to diagnose and treat bone cancer. Our team is also active in research to understand this cancer better and improve treatment options, as a member of the Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration and Children’s Oncology Group, among others.

Osteosarcoma is the most common bone cancer, often diagnosed in teenagers and young adults. Symptoms may include bone pain or a mass on an arm or leg. Chemotherapy is the main treatment, along with surgery to remove the primary tumor. Most children and teens can fully recover from osteosarcoma.

Our pediatric and adolescent bone and sarcoma treatment team focuses on children, teenagers and young adults because kids need a different treatment approach than adults when it comes to all cancers, including osteosarcoma. We start with X-ray, MRI, diagnostic bone scan and bone biopsies. Through our multispecialty clinic, patients see a team of experts in single visit. All patients are reviewed in a multispecialty team conference that includes surgical, medical and radiation oncology, pathology, radiology and many other specialists. Each patient has a nurse navigator and leaves with a detailed verbal and written care plan—a road map for their cancer care—that has been decided on together as a team.

When surgery is needed to remove tumors, we use the latest techniques to effectively remove the cancer. Our orthopedic oncology surgeons are also skilled at reconstructing complex areas, such as the spine and pelvis. We’re researching new combinations of chemotherapy and localized radiation to focus more specifically on the cancerous cells.

As a pediatric member of the national Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration, we’re able to offer the latest clinical trials. We’re also researching new combinations of chemotherapy and localized radiation to focus more specifically on the cancerous cells.