Newtown Middle School Student Is Beating His Childhood Cancer

By John Voket

Zach Pollock was having a good afternoon. He was chatty, bright — not at all presenting like a young man going on his third year of chemotherapy.

And while this brave and lucky Newtown Middle School student admitted to having a rough patch earlier on the day of his newspaper interview, by dinner time he was back to kidding around about his battle with childhood cancer.

Pointing to the array of more than a dozen pill bottles lined up on the countertop, Zach seemed almost ambivalent looking back on those first few days getting pumped full of high-powered chemicals.

“You know what they say; you know you’re having chemo when you wake up and your hair doesn’t,” he joked.

His dad, George Pollock, smiled even though he has probably heard that one more than a few times before. But clearly the memory of those whirlwind days following the diagnosis, and the threat of losing his precious son, still haunted him.

“Yup, he was bald within a week of starting treatment,” George Pollock recalled in a hushed whisper.

For both he and his wife Lisa, their daughter Sara, who is off at college in Fairfield, and Zach, the prospect of wrapping up this gloomy daily tradition, regular trips to Yale Children’s hospital for direct spinal injections, and the sometimes nightmare roller-coaster after effects of the drugs, is nearly over. Zach’s final round of chemo is scheduled to end in January.

Lisa Pollock said although she wouldn’t wish a day of the grueling process on anyone, her son’s course of chemotherapy is an average sentence for children like him diagnosed with leukemia.

“Leukemia treatment for boys is the worst,” she said. “It can last for three to five years — nothing like with adults who are typically done [with treatments] in six months. And Zach’s kind of chemo can actually cause other types of cancer.”

These last few days of September bring those tentative early months of Zach’s illness back into clear focus for George and Lisa, because their son was diagnosed on September 28, 2005. He was 9 years old at the time. But this year, the grim anniversary will be filled with laughter, games, and camaraderie because it is the day the Tommy Fund for Childhood Cancer holds its annual Family Day at the Connecticut Tennis Center in New Haven.

Zach has been something of a Tommy Fund celebrity since he was diagnosed, and he and his family took up regular residence with so many other families battling childhood cancer at Yale. In 2006, exercising his artistic skills, Zach designed the official T-shirt for the Tommy Fund’s “Run for the Kids.” During the postrace ceremonies, he was well enough to help hand out trophies, and even held the flag during prerace festivities and the playing of the National Anthem.

“Now that was an emotional moment for me,” George Pollock recalled.

“Yeah, that flag was heavy,” Zach added, smiling.

Since then, Zach has spoken at a Tommy Fund golf tournament, chatted on the air at WPLR during the 2008 Tommy Fund Radiothon, and his mom addressed a packed house at a recent Tommy Fund Denim & Diamonds event, trying to promote the cause, and the vital support and outreach services the organization provides.

September also marks Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, an annual opportunity to learn more about, and reach out to those fighting, the various insidious diseases that rob children of their luster and steal children away from their families much too soon, and still too often, Ms Pollock believes.

When Zach was diagnosed, the Pollocks say they didn’t even realize there was a Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. But now that they know the month coincides with their son’s diagnosis, they have become staunch advocates, helping to spread the word wherever possible.

“I also think it’s important for people to know that cancer doesn’t just happen to other people and that it’s right here in Newtown,” Ms Pollock said. “We need to improve funding for childhood cancer research and find a cure.”

The National Children’s Cancer Society recommends raising childhood cancer awareness in September by asking one’s school to recognize the month, wear a gold ribbon on one’s lapel, contact a local newspaper editor about doing a story on childhood cancer, and to asking one’s local library to feature books about childhood cancer.

Keeping the issue at top of mind is important because statistics show the condition is still taking a terrible toll. According to the organization, nationally:

*In 2008 more than 10,000 children will be diagnosed with cancer.

*Cancer is the leading cause of death among children.

*More than 1,500 children died of cancer in 2006.

 

A Terrible Toll

The Childhood Cancer Resource Center indicates that children can suffer from several types of cancer, such as acute lymphocytic leukemia; bone cancer; brain and spinal cord cancer; Ewing’s sarcoma; Hodgkin’s lymphoma; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; neuroblastoma; osteosarcoma; retinoblastoma; rhabdomyosarcoma; or Wilm’s tumor.

Unfortunately, many of the causes and risk factors of childhood cancer are not known. Unlike adults, children do not have lifestyle risk factors such as tobacco exposure, poor diet, or other modifiable risk factors that could cause cancer. Genetics, however, can play a part in childhood cancer development.

According to the Tommy Fund, one in every 330 children in the United States develops cancer before the age of 19. And the pediatric oncology staff at the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital (YNHCH) treats more children with cancer than any other facility in the state.

YNHCH sees about 60 new cases of childhood cancer yearly and follows approximately 250 patients from diagnosis, through treatment and to helping children reenter the mainstream after treatment. Over the past 30 years, dramatic gains have been made in the area of hematology/oncology — in clinical and laboratory research, diagnostic procedures, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy — which has led to a current cure rate above 70 percent for most forms of childhood cancer.

But until the final case of childhood cancer is cleared from the books, the Pollocks and thousands like them will continue to fight for greater awareness, increased funding for research, and a 100 percent cure rate.

“Zach is our hero,” Ms Pollock said. “But he is far from the only one suffering with childhood cancer right here in our community. It’s unfortunate, but even this kind of cancer doesn’t get the kind of respect it deserves.”

To learn more about the Tommy Fund, visit www.Tommyfund.org.

The Childhood Cancer Resource Center can be found at: www.childhoodcancerguides.org.