The kind that most closely resembles the melanoma that is seen in adults occurs mostly in adolescents ages 15 to 19, who account for 75 percent of all pediatric cases. In fact, the research hospital recently created a registry that follows the progress of pediatric melanoma patients and includes molecular analyses of their cancer subtypes and treatment histories. “We have come to recognize that not all pediatric melanoma cases are the same when you compare them to the adult population,” says Alberto Pappo, MD, director of the Solid Tumor Division at St. One reason is that they have new DNA sequencing tools and are able to study the genetic subtypes and better understand the particular risks. Pediatric melanoma historically has received less research attention because it’s so uncommon, yet doctors increasingly are learning more about the uniqueness of this childhood cancer.
“We explained that we were going to a hospital where they take care of kids with cancer and get it taken care of.” Not the Same as Adult Melanoma She’s very strong and brave,” says Jesica. Still, her parents worried about whether their daughter’s cancer had been growing this entire time. Yet just like in adult cases, the odds of survival were better if that cancer hadn’t spread to other parts of the body. “There was hardly any information about pediatric versions of this cancer.” Indeed, children account for only a tiny percentage of all new cases of melanoma in the United States, with about 400 cases a year in children under 20 years of age.Īccording to the National Cancer Institute, more than 90 percent of children and adolescents with melanoma were expected to be alive five years after their initial diagnosis. “That was probably the worst thing I could have done,” she says. “When I heard the word ‘cancer,’ I felt kicked in the gut.” Consumed with dread, she spent the evening looking up information about melanoma survival rates. “It was completely out of left field,” adds Jesica. “When I heard the news, I was blindsided,” says Addison’s dad, Caleb Dunavent. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which was about an hour and a half away in Memphis, Tennessee.
I CAN TREAT YOU BETTER KARAOKE SKIN
Jesica, who worked as a medical practice manager in Lambert, Mississippi, knew such a request wasn’t usually good news.Īn hour later, the parents learned their 4-year-old daughter had a type of skin cancer called a spitzoid melanoma that is rare in children. Later, when Jesica got a call from the dermatologist’s office asking when she and Addison’s father would be available to talk by phone, her heart sank, and she burst into tears. “But I’m going to send it to a pathology lab just to make sure.” We see this all the time,” he had said after excising the growth in June of 2017. That doctor didn’t seem concerned, either. When the top became scaly in appearance like a mushroom, her parents thought scar tissue was forming and agreed she should visit a dermatologist to have it removed.
Occasionally, the child would scratch at it or knock it against furniture and cause it to bleed. In fact, it had grown to the size of a dime. Yet by the time Addison was in preschool, her bump was still there. “The clusters of blood get reabsorbed into the body.” “Eventually they go away,” she recalls the doctor saying. The doctor took one look at the round bump, about half the size of a pencil eraser, and explained it was a hemangioma, a usually harmless birthmark often called a “strawberry mark” that’s common in newborns. When Jesica Dunavent took her 4-month-old daughter, Addison, to her pediatrician for a checkup, she asked him about a little raised red spot on the infant’s left arm below the elbow. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has established a genetics registry to learn more about them. Her mom says, “She absolutely adores him.” Photo credit: Ann-Margaret Hedges Pediatric melanomas are rare and usually different from adult cases. What a Team: Addison, age 6, at a follow-up appointment with Alberto Pappo, MD, director of the Solid Tumor Division at St.
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