09/05/2026
For families walking through childhood cancer, 100.4° isn’t just a fever.
When your child has a port, a fever can mean dropping everything and immediately following their oncology team’s fever protocol which often requires another trip to the emergency room.
Sometimes more than once in the same week.
Another port access. Another blood culture. Another needle. Another unfamiliar room. Another person touching a child who is already scared and has already endured too much.
And far too often, families arrive at adult emergency departments that are not prepared or properly trained to care for pediatric oncology patients and safely access their ports.
The added fear, confusion and trauma this can cause is UNNECESSARY.
We advocate for equal funding, but we also advocate for mandatory continuing education for every medical professional working in an emergency department. Our children deserve knowledgeable, compassionate and appropriate care no matter which hospital they enter.
Their emergency care should not cause more trauma.
THEY DESERVE BETTER.
