› Forums › Cutaneous Melanoma Community › My 7 year old boy is diagnosed with Melanoma
- This topic has 15 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 3 months ago by
dnovak.
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- January 26, 2016 at 12:41 pm
Dear Forum members,
Yesterday ( 25th Jan, 2016 ), my 7 yr old boy was diagnosed with Spitzoid Melanoma. This information is hard to absorb for me, as if this is true, this is one of the rarest case. Am originally from asia, my boy came to this country when he was 1 year old. I have a brown skin and my son is having brown skin too. He never had sun exposure. Neither my family or my wife's family has a history of melanoma or skin cancer.
My boy had a normal looking mole and overtime it changed color. We were planning to take him be seen by doctor. But last month my boy got hurt on his mole while he was playing. His doctor's visit and diagnosis started right away. His mole was shaved off from his arm and was sent for biopsy. The biopsy result came out with a dilemma as below:
It stated: Significant atypia is noted but the degree of atypia could possibly be seen with a traumatized Spitz Nevus. This case presents conflicting features. Although the lesion is superficial in sampling, the degree of nuclear pleomorphism and immunostaining pattern are worrisome for the possibility of a Spitzoid malignant Melanoma. Despite this, a diagnosis of a traumatized benign spitz nevus is more plausible in a 7 yr old patient. Given the diagnostic diemma, the case will be sent out for a second opinion.
And as stated in the beginning, I received the second opinon that it is Spitzoid Melanoma.
Dear members, I have no clue where to start with. I live in Allentown, PA. Please advise me how can I reach out to the best facilities that can further diagnose and treat this.
May God bless you all.
Best Regards,
M.Haque
- Replies
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- January 26, 2016 at 1:15 pm
Hi,
I'm sorry you and your son have to deal with this. I always tell my wife that as a younger person, dealing with cancer sucks and it isn't fair, but when I hear about childhood cancer, it is almost unfathomable as I cannot imagine explaining it to a child let alone being a child and trying to understand.
The best advice anyone will give you here to to consult with doctor(s). Living an Allentown, you are close to NYC and from what I understand Sloan-Kettering is an excellent place to receive treatment. I'll defer to those with experience up there.
Alternative, Philadelphia's Penn Medicine has both the Children's Hospital and the cancer center in essentially the same complex and I believe they work well together and collaborate frequently. They have both childhood cancer experts and melanoma experts between them. Given that it's less than 2 hours away, it may be a good place to start and receive the most expert opinions.
It's important to get experts in the melanoma area.
I suspect they'll want to remove the entire lesion and study it from there. I'll defer to the docs, but certainly, you should seek additional information and from experts in both melanoma and childhood cancers.
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- January 26, 2016 at 1:15 pm
Hi,
I'm sorry you and your son have to deal with this. I always tell my wife that as a younger person, dealing with cancer sucks and it isn't fair, but when I hear about childhood cancer, it is almost unfathomable as I cannot imagine explaining it to a child let alone being a child and trying to understand.
The best advice anyone will give you here to to consult with doctor(s). Living an Allentown, you are close to NYC and from what I understand Sloan-Kettering is an excellent place to receive treatment. I'll defer to those with experience up there.
Alternative, Philadelphia's Penn Medicine has both the Children's Hospital and the cancer center in essentially the same complex and I believe they work well together and collaborate frequently. They have both childhood cancer experts and melanoma experts between them. Given that it's less than 2 hours away, it may be a good place to start and receive the most expert opinions.
It's important to get experts in the melanoma area.
I suspect they'll want to remove the entire lesion and study it from there. I'll defer to the docs, but certainly, you should seek additional information and from experts in both melanoma and childhood cancers.
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- January 26, 2016 at 1:15 pm
Hi,
I'm sorry you and your son have to deal with this. I always tell my wife that as a younger person, dealing with cancer sucks and it isn't fair, but when I hear about childhood cancer, it is almost unfathomable as I cannot imagine explaining it to a child let alone being a child and trying to understand.
The best advice anyone will give you here to to consult with doctor(s). Living an Allentown, you are close to NYC and from what I understand Sloan-Kettering is an excellent place to receive treatment. I'll defer to those with experience up there.
Alternative, Philadelphia's Penn Medicine has both the Children's Hospital and the cancer center in essentially the same complex and I believe they work well together and collaborate frequently. They have both childhood cancer experts and melanoma experts between them. Given that it's less than 2 hours away, it may be a good place to start and receive the most expert opinions.
It's important to get experts in the melanoma area.
I suspect they'll want to remove the entire lesion and study it from there. I'll defer to the docs, but certainly, you should seek additional information and from experts in both melanoma and childhood cancers.
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- January 26, 2016 at 2:32 pm
I might consider a third opinion from UCSF who have studied Spitzoid melanoma closely. Spitz nevi (typically found in kids under 20) look identical to melanoma melanoma under the microscope so it is difficult to make the distinction between the two. Dr. Bastian at UCSF and his path team are good at making the determination. In addition, if they cannot visually make the determination, they can run a genetic FISH test to further determine if the lesion is melanoma or Spitz. Was the FISH test run on your son's lesion? I would definitely consider a third opinion or research the pathologists who did read your son's slide and then I would seek out a melanoma specialist at a very large institution. You really want someone who knows what they are doing in regards to children and that won't be found at smaller centers. BTW, childhood melanoma is generally not considered to be caused by sun exposure nor is it typically considered genetic.
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- January 27, 2016 at 6:40 pm
First off, I have to say that this sucks for you and your son, and I am sorry. That said, there are a number of pediatric melanoma patients and parents floating around, myself included. My daughter was diagnosed almost 3 years ago at age 8 (and doing great now). Every parent who has been through this will tell you that pediatric melanoma is different from adult melanoma, so you need to be sure you go to a cancer center that has PM experience like St. Judes, MD Anderson, UCSF, etc.I would reach out to Brenda Busby, who works for the Melanoma research foundation. Her daughter was diagnosed at a very young age and she is very active among the pediatric melanoma community. Her email is [email protected]. She is a great resource.You can also check out The Littlest Warrior Spot on Facebook. It is a pediatric melanoma community.God bless and good luck.Dave Novak -
- January 27, 2016 at 6:40 pm
First off, I have to say that this sucks for you and your son, and I am sorry. That said, there are a number of pediatric melanoma patients and parents floating around, myself included. My daughter was diagnosed almost 3 years ago at age 8 (and doing great now). Every parent who has been through this will tell you that pediatric melanoma is different from adult melanoma, so you need to be sure you go to a cancer center that has PM experience like St. Judes, MD Anderson, UCSF, etc.I would reach out to Brenda Busby, who works for the Melanoma research foundation. Her daughter was diagnosed at a very young age and she is very active among the pediatric melanoma community. Her email is [email protected]. She is a great resource.You can also check out The Littlest Warrior Spot on Facebook. It is a pediatric melanoma community.God bless and good luck.Dave Novak -
- January 27, 2016 at 6:40 pm
First off, I have to say that this sucks for you and your son, and I am sorry. That said, there are a number of pediatric melanoma patients and parents floating around, myself included. My daughter was diagnosed almost 3 years ago at age 8 (and doing great now). Every parent who has been through this will tell you that pediatric melanoma is different from adult melanoma, so you need to be sure you go to a cancer center that has PM experience like St. Judes, MD Anderson, UCSF, etc.I would reach out to Brenda Busby, who works for the Melanoma research foundation. Her daughter was diagnosed at a very young age and she is very active among the pediatric melanoma community. Her email is [email protected]. She is a great resource.You can also check out The Littlest Warrior Spot on Facebook. It is a pediatric melanoma community.God bless and good luck.Dave Novak
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- January 26, 2016 at 2:32 pm
I might consider a third opinion from UCSF who have studied Spitzoid melanoma closely. Spitz nevi (typically found in kids under 20) look identical to melanoma melanoma under the microscope so it is difficult to make the distinction between the two. Dr. Bastian at UCSF and his path team are good at making the determination. In addition, if they cannot visually make the determination, they can run a genetic FISH test to further determine if the lesion is melanoma or Spitz. Was the FISH test run on your son's lesion? I would definitely consider a third opinion or research the pathologists who did read your son's slide and then I would seek out a melanoma specialist at a very large institution. You really want someone who knows what they are doing in regards to children and that won't be found at smaller centers. BTW, childhood melanoma is generally not considered to be caused by sun exposure nor is it typically considered genetic.
-
- January 26, 2016 at 2:32 pm
I might consider a third opinion from UCSF who have studied Spitzoid melanoma closely. Spitz nevi (typically found in kids under 20) look identical to melanoma melanoma under the microscope so it is difficult to make the distinction between the two. Dr. Bastian at UCSF and his path team are good at making the determination. In addition, if they cannot visually make the determination, they can run a genetic FISH test to further determine if the lesion is melanoma or Spitz. Was the FISH test run on your son's lesion? I would definitely consider a third opinion or research the pathologists who did read your son's slide and then I would seek out a melanoma specialist at a very large institution. You really want someone who knows what they are doing in regards to children and that won't be found at smaller centers. BTW, childhood melanoma is generally not considered to be caused by sun exposure nor is it typically considered genetic.
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