Mind – Body – Spirit
(continued)

"We had packed for three days; I was down there for two months," says Ann.

But while rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare disease, it's no stranger to pediatric oncologists like Jonathan Ducore, chief of pediatric hematology/oncology at UC Davis Medical Center.

"Most pediatric malignancies are fairly aggressive," says Ducore. "What happens in those first few years usually determines what will happen in the long term. In Joe's case, we didn't feel it appropriate to do more surgery right away. We put him on a fairly complex, intensive regimen of chemotherapy and radiation treatment."

Pediatric oncologists at the UC Davis Medical Center cooperate with more than 125 other pediatric cancer programs as a member of the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group and the Pediatric Oncology Group, one of two cooperative National Cancer Institute-funded groups devoted to children's cancer. At any given time some 50 studies of promising new treatments for a variety of cancers are available to children and adolescent cancer patients. The Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group had a clinical trial that seemed ideal for Joe: an intensive combination of chemotherapy and radiation treatments to shrink the tumors, combined with more chemotherapy and follow-up care.

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Joe Lynn made this mask as part of an art project he completed while hospitalized.