Health Link Special Edition #303
Childhood Cancer
Airs:  Tuesday June 20, 2006 7:30-9pm
Repeats:  Sunday June 25, 2006 5:30-7pm

There is nothing that can prepare you for the words, "your child has cancer."  Approximately 12,500 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year.  When it strikes, cancer places an enormous burden on families… physically, emotionally and financially.  Join Benita Zahn for a special 90 minute call-in edition of Health Link as we meet some families who have taken on the fight.  We will examine childhood cancer from diagnosis and treatment to family support. 

Guests:
Joanna Bull, M.A., M.F.C.C.
Joanna Bull is the founder of Gilda's Club and sits on the Board of Directors of Gilda's Club Worldwide. Gilda's Club is named for Gilda Radner, with whom Ms. Bull worked as a cancer psychotherapist during the comedian's illness.

Throughout her career, Ms. Bull has worked to establish free cancer support communities - first at the pioneering Center for the Healing Arts in Los Angeles, and later at The Wellness Community in Santa Monica and Redondo Beach, California. In addition to participating in the development and administration of such communities, she has trained and supervised therapists extensively in the concept, and has worked with hundreds of people with cancer and their family members on psychosocial issues related to cancer.

Raised in Detroit, Ms. Bull attended the University of Chicago; she also studied at the Chicago Art Institute. Her Masters in Clinical Psychology was earned at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. She is the author of Gilda's Club: Philosophy and Program, as well as numerous professional papers. She is a frequent lecturer at cancer-related institutes and psycho-oncology meetings and conferences around the world, and has been an advisor to the National Cancer Legislation Advisory Committee.

Karen Carpenter-Palumbo
Karen is regional vice president for the Capital Region at the American Cancer Society.  As regional vice president, Karen is in charge of implementing cancer-prevention and patient and family service programs and spearheading development activities in the society's 13-county coverage area.

Karen was formerly executive vice president of government programs at Albany-based CDPHP. There, she was responsible for management and fiscal oversight of the Medicare, Medicaid, Child Health Plus, Family Health Plus and regulatory compliance departments. She served as corporate compliance and privacy officer, and as chief lobbyist representing the nonprofit HMO to all levels of government.  Earlier, she held positions with Capital District Physicians' Health Plan, the state Office of Mental Health in Poughkeepsie, and worked for the Governor's Office under former Gov. Mario Cuomo.  She earned degrees in social work from Rochester Institute of Technology and Long Island's Adelphi University.

Karen is a community volunteer and has served on several boards including: the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Northeastern New York; the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Northeast New York; Parsons Child and Family Center; Girls Inc. and the State University of New York's Center Women in Government; and a commissioner for the New York state Americorps program.

Joyce Crawford, RN, CHPN
Joyce is a registered nurse and Certified Hospice Palliative Nurse.  She serves as nurse/case manager for The Community Hospice.  Joyce handles all of the pediatric cases that come through The Community Hospice's Saratoga offices.  She has been with Hospice for 14 years.  

Jennifer Pearce, MD
Dr. Pearce is a pediatric oncologist at the Children's Hospital at Albany Med and an associate professor of pediatrics at Albany Medical College.

Richard Sills, MD
Dr. Sills is a Professor of Pediatrics at Albany Medical College and Director of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Albany Medical Center.

Max Yurenda
CEO & Executive Director, Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch
a special place where children with life threatening or chronic illnesses can go, have fun and forget their problems.  Over 1,440 children and families participate annually in the year round programming.

Alex Baron
Alex Baron was diagnosed with testicular cancer in November of 2000, he was just 15 years old.  His tumor was discovered completely by accident.  While playing in a soccer game he was hit in the groin with a ball, which caused a hematoma.  This blood clot later caused an infection which brought him to the emergency room.  But blood tests revealed more than that.  Days later, doctors removed a testicular tumor and said he wouldn't require further treatment. Within a couple months, Baron, who grew up in Rockland County, began collecting pledges for his hometown Relay for Life.

Alex just finished his junior year at the University at Albany where he is majoring in history with a political science minor.  For the last two years, Baron has organized UAlbany's Relay for Life, an overnight walking or running relay. In March, 800 UAlbany students, staff members, friends and family packed the RAC Arena, and collected about $60,000 for the American Cancer Society.  Alex is the founder of Students of Albany Against Cancer/Colleges Against Cancer.  In July Alex will represent the American Cancer Society in Portsmouth, England as an Ambassador for their first Relay for Life and in September he will represent New York's 17th district in Washington, DC for Celebration on the Hill 2006 - a unique event that will show lawmakers how the American Cancer Society is waging the fight against cancer in communities nationwide.