UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital ranks among the Top-50 children’s hospitals in the nation for pediatric cancer care, according to U.S. News & World Report. We have one of the largest pediatric hematology and oncology inpatient units in the Southeast and our physicians and nurses are devoted to providing compassionate, leading-edge care for children with cancer.
More than half of children with cancer can be cured. Our physicians are focused on delivering innovative treatment plans, specializing in leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, solid tumors, non-malignant hematology, late effects and stem cell/bone marrow transplants.
Our physicians are devoted to conducting research to prevent and cure childhood and adolescent cancer through scientific discovery. They also work on multidisciplinary teams with researchers throughout the UF campus, who provide extensive experience in many areas of prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
During September, we remember the approximately 1,100 children who will pass away from childhood cancers in the U.S. this year with origami cranes displayed in the UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital Sebastian Ferrero Atrium. While cancer incidence rates have slowly increased in children and adolescents each year since 1975, death rates have continued to decline. Even with the declining death rates, childhood cancer is still the second most common cause of death among children in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.
The cranes are provided by Joey’s Wings, a nonprofit charity established in the memory of Joey Xu, who passed away in 2014 from a rare form of kidney cancer.
Photo: Mindy Miller