Join us at noon CT (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT) on Tuesday, July 19, for an hour-long chat about surviving childhood cancer, with Chicago Tribune health reporter Deborah L. Shelton, and panelists Dr. Mary Lou Schmidt, Melinda Stolley, Ph.D., and Jessica Ittner, RN. The cure rate for childhood cancers rose dramatically in the mid-1980s. Now, an estimated 270,000 Americans between the ages of 20 and 39 are childhood cancer survivors, about one in 640 adults in that age range. As many as 7,000 childhood cancer survivors live in the Chicago area. Despite that good news, research suggests that two-thirds of survivors develop a major medical disorder as a result, and about a quarter have three to four major health problems, one of which is considered life-threatening.
What do childhood cancer survivors need to know as they get older? Are survivors accessing the care that they need? And what research is underway to help more survivors and the health problems that they face?
Dr. Mary Lou Schmidt is head of the division of pediatric hematology/oncology at Children's Hospital University of Illinois and head of the joint Children's Oncology Group Clinical Trials program at UIC, Rush University Medical Center and the John H. Stroger Medical Center (formerly Cook County Hospital). She has a strong clinical focus on infants, children, adolescents and young adults with cancer, and her research focus is on low and intermediate risk neuroblastoma clinical trials, late effects from childhood cancer and enrollment of under-represented minorities and adolescents and young adults onto COG clinical trials. She established and is the co-medical director of the UIC Cancer Survivorship Clinic and is a member of the UIC Cancer Center. 
Melinda Stolley, Ph.D is a health psychologist with a specialization in oncology, as well as a portfolio in cancer survivor research and weight loss interventions with children and cancer survivors. She recently completed a National Cancer Institute Cancer Prevention Career Development Award that supported extensive training in health disparities and cancer survivorship. Stolley is currently conducting an NCI-funded multi-site study that examines health behaviors in a diverse cohort of childhood cancer survivors and healthy controls. Stolley is a fellow at UIC's Institute for Health, Research and Policy and a member of the UIC Cancer Center.
Jessica Ittner, RN joined the staff at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2008 and is project coordinator of Children's Oncology Group Studies at UIC and Rush University Medical Center. She is also nurse coordinator for the UIC Cancer Survivorship Clinic. Ittner has worked as a clinical scientist, a research assistant and clinical nurse during her career. As a child, Ittner was treated for a tumor with radiation, chemotherapy and surgery, and often shares her personal experiences with other patients.If you are unable to make the chat, or would like to send your question in advance, e-mail Deborah Shelton at dshelton@tribune.com.
