Child with cancer is parents’ worst nighmare

Sixth-grader’s battle against leukemia has changed the Duncan  family forever.

Arnold Duncan III, a sixth-grader diagnosed with leukemia in 2006, holds up a plate with a week's worth of medication on Oct. 2 in his Middletown home.

Staff photo by Nick Graham Arnold Duncan III, a sixth-grader diagnosed with leukemia in 2006, holds up a plate with a week's worth of medication on Oct. 2 in his Middletown home.

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By Rick McCrabb, Staff Writer Updated 12:06 PM Thursday, October 22, 2009

Cancer is the leading cause of death in children in America, after accidents.

Every day, approximately 46 U.S. children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer — mainly leukemia, tumors of the brain and nervous system, the lymphatic system, kidneys, bones and muscles.

It occurs randomly, sparing no ethnic, socioeconomic or geographic group.

Yet for every six research dollars spent per patient with AIDS and every one research dollar per patient with breast cancer, a child with cancer receives 30 cents.

In the United States, 10,500 children under age 15 and 3,700 adolescents ages 15-19 are newly diagnosed with cancer each year, according to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation. But in that moment when the doctor turns to you and tells you that your child has cancer, you feel more alone than ever, parents say.

Arnold Duncan of Middletown walked off the football field at Smith Park, his practice jersey soaked with sweat, and he pulled off his helmet.

His mother, Carrie Duncan — proud of what she called his “best practice ever” — gave him a huge hug. That’s when she noticed the area around his mohawk haircut was covered with petechia, reddish spots on the skin.

She figured it was a heat rash. But still, she had Arnold examined by Dr. Diana Small, the family’s physician.

As the examination continued and the doctor found more spots, his mother, Carrie Duncan, feeling helpless, kept repeating: “Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.”

The doctor pulled Carrie Duncan out of the examination room and delivered the dire diagnosis: it was possible her son had leukemia.

“At that moment,” Carrie Duncan said, “I could hear nothing. My world went silent. I just started crying.”

That was Aug. 24, 2006.

“A Thursday,” remembered Arnold’s father, Arnold Duncan. “We’ll never forget that day. That was Day One.”

Day One, as it turned out, of the family’s three-year fight against cancer.

Mom was blind-sided.

Arnold, accompanied by his mother, was transported to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in an ambulance. Carrie felt it was time to break the news to her son.

All he said: “Don’t lie to me.”

As she retold the story recently while sitting in her Middletown living room, tears rolled down her face. She wiped them away. The tears were winning.

Years ago, Carrie Duncan’s first husband, Creed Pruitt, only 27, died of colon cancer. Arnold remembered hearing about his death.

“Am I going to die?” he asked his mother in the hospital.

As she said now: “He knows cancer.”

Now he knows it first-hand.

Arnold, then 9, was hospitalized for five weeks. His mother never left the hospital. His father, who just began working at Rumpke, returned to work.

Suddenly, the Duncans, a two-income family, had only one income as their living and medical expenses escalated.

Cancer drained more than their emotions.

Even with insurance, the Duncans, who live on Granada Avenue off South Main Street, had out-of-pocket expenses that nearly bankrupted them.

Arnold Duncan pulled out a folder and showed the hospital bill for his son’s five-week hospital stay. It was for $187,387 — $23,000 just for the room. The family was responsible for $455.

They have spent about $80 a week on regular doctor visits and each emergency room visit costs $150.

It may be years before they know the total cost of Arnold’s cancer treatments.

Today, he takes 57 pills a week, and once a month, he takes steroids.

His last chemotherapy treatment is scheduled for Dec. 19, one day before his 12th birthday.

Relatives made several mortgage payments and loaned them money.

In an odd way, Arnold’s illness brought his family and other relatives closer to together, his mother said. Arnold’s uncles and aunts, some of whom he barely knew, stepped forward when word of his cancer spread.

It also has changed his family. Forever.

“I had never prayed that hard,” his mother said.

“When we were at the hospital, we saw all the other children and some of them never went home,” his father said. “There are always kids who are worse off than we are.”

Arnold Duncan said his son, a sixth-grader at Verity Middle School, handled the cancer “absolutely great.”

Arnold and Carrie said they’ve tried to treat Arnold and his older sister, Makayla, a seventh-grader, the same throughout the ordeal.

But they admitted to showing Arnold favoritism because of his illness.

“That’s for sure,” Makayla said with a slight smile.

When asked to name the toughest part of having a child with cancer — the financial, emotional, or psychological challenges — Carrie Duncan said: “All the above.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.

Facts about pediatric oncology

Cancer is the No. 1 cause of nonaccidental death in children.
Childhood cancer cannot be prevented and occurs regularly and randomly, sparing no ethnic, socioeconomic or geographic group.
Approximately 46 U.S. children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every day
For every six research dollars per patient with AIDS and every one research dollar per patient with breast cancer, a child with cancer receives 30 cents.
The risk of any single individual developing cancer by age 20 is approximately one in 330.
In the United States, approximately 10,500 children under age 15 and 3,700 adolescents ages 15-19 are newly diagnosed with cancer each year.
Leukemia, tumors of the brain and nervous system, the lymphatic system, kidneys, bones and muscles are the most common childhood cancers.
Over the period from 1975-1995 the incidence of pediatric cancer increased by approximately 12 percent but mostly due to improved detection.
Mortality from pediatric cancer has been steadily decreasing (due to improved supportive care and clinical trials). In December 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a 20 percent decline in the pediatric cancer death rate between 1990 and 2004.
Source: Pediatric Cancer Foundation