NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Chairman of VIVA Foundation for Children with Cancer (VIVA), Mrs. Jennifer Yeo, will be featured on the upcoming <我董你> programme on Channel 8 TV

Chairman of VIVA Foundation for Children with Cancer (VIVA), Mrs. Jennifer Yeo, will be featured on the upcoming <我董你> programme on Channel 8 TV this Sunday 19th Jan 2025, at 9 PM! Mrs Yeo will be sharing more about VIVA. Stay tuned!

Congratulations to Prof Allen Yeoh and his team on their groundbreaking cancer treatment breakthrough!

Congratulations to Prof Allen Yeoh and his team on their groundbreaking cancer treatment breakthrough! Your dedication to fighting childhood cancer is truly inspiring. We're honoured to support innovative research such as this.

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Sister Laura Tan

Senior Nurse Educator, VIVA-University Children’s Cancer Centre (VUC³)

Most people still have the perception that the role of a nurse is limited to just caring for patients at their bedside. The challenge of being a nurse goes beyond that.

As a senior nurse educator, I work with each stakeholder in the young cancer patient’s journey. In addition to caring for children with cancer, I support the nursing team in education and training. I facilitate and teach a few courses, including a course on paediatric nursing oncology. When a child is diagnosed with cancer, the whole family is affected. As nurses, we are advocates for the family. We work with the care team and always try to balance the child’s difficulties in coping and the family’s concern. Part of my role also involves training nurses in the necessary skills to support the entire family through the storm of emotional and financial turmoil, especially when young patients had to stop treatment due to financial difficulties.

It is an amazing opportunity to be part of VIVA’s paediatric oncology care team. As nurses, we spend the most time at the child’s bedside. Our observations, care and assessment form the basis on which clinical decisions are made by the rest of the team. Due to our multidisciplinary approach, we work hand-in-hand with each member of our team to deliver the best care to our young patients at the VIVA-University Children’s Cancer Centre.

I am glad to be part of VIVA’s mission to help children with cancer and its continued support through various initiatives in educating nurses to provide better care. The VIVA Asia Nursing Symposium is one such initiative. It provides a platform for nurses from Singapore and regional countries such as Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam, to integrate, share and review practices in paediatric oncology.

Helping children with cancer through my various roles for the past several years allowed me to grow as a person, a caregiver and an educator. Let us work towards the future of ensuring the best nursing care for children with cancer.

Our observations, care and assessment form the basis on which clinical decisions are made by the rest of the team.

Dr Sally Blair

Member of Organising Committee, St. Jude-VIVA Forum

I am heartened to see how the St Jude-VIVA Forum has grown and evolved over the past 10 years to now involve nurses, patients and their families. All these could not have been possible without the contributions of the speakers, the participation of the delegates and the visionary guidance of the organising committee.

The Forum presents cutting-edge research to inspire our regional delegates on the next steps forward in treating children with cancer. Delegates can learn from each other and collaborate on common projects or research topics through interactive sessions at the Forum.

As a physician-scientist, the Forum has allowed me to learn so much from experts around the world. I am in awe of the work being done in Singapore, internationally and in regional developing countries where care and research for children with cancer still face significant challenges.

Caleb Sim

Childhood Cancer Survivor

I could vaguely remember that I was only 13 years old when the doctor diagnosed me with Burkitt’s Lymphoma. He said that it is a type of cancer that affects the body’s lymphatic system. Since the lymphatic system is the body’s transport system for infection-fighting white blood cells, the cancer was destroying my immune system.

By then, my cancer had already advanced to Stage 4, where it had spread to other parts of my body. The cure rate was supposed to be like around 50% to 60% and my risk of dying was very high. To me, I was not sure how death would be like. Would it be painful? Is it like closing your eyes to sleep and never waking up?

My parents did not lose hope. They brought me to the VIVA University Children’s Cancer Centre (VUC3) where I immediately began treatment as a subsided patient. I stayed at the inpatient ward for four months on-and-off and underwent many sessions of chemotherapy. I guess that my body must be responding well to the treatment, since I subsequently went back as an outpatient for my follow-up checks and treatments.

I have fond memories of VUC3, including the friends I made there. No doubt the treatment was very painful and unpleasant. But with encouragement from my family and the doctors, nurses and staff at VUC3, I was able to keep a very positive attitude and pull through the awful side effects of the treatment. Under the conscientious care of Dr Allen Yeoh and the nurses, I received a new combination of antibody therapy on top of the standard chemotherapy treatment, which went on to improve my chances of cure.

I was not sure how death would be like. Would it be painful?
Is it like closing your eyes to sleep and never waking up?

During my recovery process, I attended PALS school at the VIVA-CCF Hub for 4 months. Back then, my body’s immunity was very low and I could be easily infected by common germs and bacteria due to both my cancer and the treatment. Attending school outside was out of the question. PALS was an awesome place where I regained focus on my studies, played many fun games and made new friends with other children with cancer.

In October 2014, my battle with cancer came to an end after 16 months of pain and tears, I am finally cured. My dream came true. Today, I am a 16-year-old regular boy attending Fairfield Methodist Secondary School. I enjoy playing video games and reading comic books after school each day.