Rhys Shaw of Daniel Island came in from a visit to the pool and went straight to his room, posting a sign on his door warning his family he had COVID along with a list of his symptoms. It was July 2020, and Rhys is a perceptive kid, , said his mother Lisa, so it made sense that his sore throat, runny nose and headache were just that. But it would turn out to be something far worse.
Rhys, then 10 years old, would eventually be diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic lymphoma. He underwent chemotherapy that turned out to be unexpectedly toxic, landing him in the intensive care unit and prompting surgery at one point to relieve swelling in his brain. Rhys, now 14, is still feeling some of the effects of his cancer battle, Lisa Shaw said, as do most kids who go through it.
Rhys Shaw, 14, at his tennis lessons with instructor Adam Gengarella on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, on Daniel Island. A recent report was celebrated by South Carolina doctors that showed the progress in survival and plummeting death rate from childhood cancer over 25 years.
Between 1996 and 2016, the five-year survival rate from childhood cancer increased 11 percent in S.C., while the death rate plunged 21 percent between 1996 and 2020, according to the report from the South Carolina Childhood Cancer Taskforce .
But even with that success, there is still an urgent need for more research, and particularly for better therapies developed specifically for children, said Dr. Michelle Hudspeth, director of pediatric he.