Boston Mayor Marty Walsh ‘Proud to be a Cancer Survivor’

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh recently gave the keynote address at Dana-Farber’s Living Proof: Celebrating Survivorship event. He shared his experience as a child being treated for Burkitt’s lymphoma at Dana-Farber and Boston Children’s Hospital. Boston Children’s Hospital is proud to have been involved in the Mayor’s treatment all those years ago. Stories like his, and all of our patients, inspire the team at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center to provide the most advanced care and develop innovative treatments so the children they treat today can go on to do great things tomorrow. The following excerpts from his speech, originally appeared on Insight, Dana-Farber’s blog : I was diagnosed with cancer at age 7. I went through treatment for almost four years. At 7-years old, I didn’t really know what was going on and how serious it was – and it was pretty serious. For many years I missed a lot of school. I missed most of my second and third grades. When I finally went into remission, I realized all the support I had from the community and people around me. When I had cancer, one of the hardest things for me was losing all my hair. I had red hair at the time, really red hair, and it was hard to get a match [for a wig]. The guy on the top floor of my house came down one day and clipped off a piece of my hair and he came back with an identical wig for the color of my hair. I received great care at Dana-Farber and it’s someth...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: All posts Cancer childhood cancer Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center our patients' stories Source Type: news