HOUSTON – Ten-year-old Quinn Moore has reached a finish line in her pediatric cancer treatment.
Now, she’s visiting the long-term Survivor Program at Texas Children’s Hospital for her annual visit.
“Today, was the first time she came in and she didn’t have any imaging. She just had her bloodwork taken and I met with a doctor,” said Quinn’s mother Brittney Moore.
When Quinn was just three years old, she underwent cancer treatment and then continued to get frequent checkups. Now that her health is in a good place, she will only have to visit the survivor program once a year.
“I have to keep on coming here when I’m like 100!” Quinn said.
“The idea is that we’re really there to maintain excellent health for them,” explained Dr. Zoann Dreyer, Medical Director of the Long-term Survivor Program.
Dr. Dreyer said this program is critical for the physical and emotional health of her patients for the rest of their lives.
“As time goes on, survivors are at increased risk for sometimes significant problems. Some of our patients who have reached their chest are at risk for breast cancer at a very high rate. Some of the cancers themselves are associated with the risk of secondary cancers. But a lot of times, it’s actually really focused on their psychosocial well-being, and as we know, mental health issues now are huge in our country and certainly among our survivors as well. So, we’re really there to provide comprehensive follow-up care so that the survivor that has survived cancer can go on and have a great and strong and happy life,” Dr. Dreyer said.
Even if patients, like Quinn, grow up and move away, they’ll still have access to the program.
“One of the big programs that we have is called our Passport for Care, and that was something that was designed here. And that’s a tool where we can take a survivors record, put it into this internet-based system, and along with that, it connects to these special guidelines so that if my survivor, who I treated here when he was 18, moved to North Dakota and has a GP, they can hook up to this system and it will tell them exactly what type of surveillance studies he needs to have to maintain his health,” Dr. Dreyer said.
Brittney said it’s a relief that someone will be watching her little girl’s health so closely.
“Regardless of whatever comes up in the future, you know, even if it was something that isn’t related to the cancer, they’re going to find whatever is going on,” Brittney said.