New hope for childhood cancer survivors as researchers target toxic treatments

Australian researchers are racing to develop new cancer treatments for children that are just as powerful as current therapies but far less toxic, as survivors face lifelong health complications from chemotherapy and radiation.

More than 1000 children are diagnosed with cancer each year in Australia, with survival rates now exceeding 80 per cent. However, about two in three survivors are left with long-term health effects from treatments originally designed for adults.

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Wyatt and Theodore are among the survivors who paid a heavy price for beating leukaemia. Wyatt was just three years old when diagnosed, with two years of treatment leaving him permanently deaf in one ear.

“They don’t want them,” said Wyatt’s mother Jessica Dickinson. “They fight you. They kick and scream and you know that you have no choice. Because you need to give it to them to give them a chance to stay alive.”

Theodore was two when he became critically ill, fighting the disease for 800 days.

“Our kids are pumped with poison that was designed for adults and their bodies are just put through absolute hell,” his mother Ebony Brouwer said.

Professor Louis Chesler from the Children’s Cancer Institute said the problem stems from outdated treatments.

“Children are not young adults,” he said. “These drugs are toxic and they do damage to children. Damage that is lifelong.”

The next frontier in treatment includes immunotherapy, cellular therapies and cancer vaccines, designed to attack cancer more precisely while protecting the rest of the body.

In a major boost for Australian families, the federal government is investing $5 million to bring international CAR-T trials to Australia, giving more children access to cutting-edge immunotherapy closer to home.

“It’s a tremendous time for cancer research and for clinical medicine and for the care of children. We think all children should have a long and healthy life,” Chesler said.