Cancer survivor program celebrates 20 years

The After the Cancer Experience (ACE) Program at Children’s is sponsoring a conference to celebrate its 20th anniversary on Saturday, Nov. 14. The conference, scheduled for 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Moore Auditorium on the Children’s Dallas campus, is designed for childhood cancer survivors, families and anyone affected by childhood cancer. Spanish translation will be available at the conference.

There is still time to register for the conference. For more information, contact Judy Watkins at 214-456-2948. You can also follow the ACE Program on Facebook or at www.childrens.com/ACE.

The keynote speaker is Dr. Melissa Hudson from St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. She is director of the Cancer Survivorship Division in the Department of Oncology and the director of the After Completion of Therapy Clinic.

The pediatric and young adult survivor program at Children’s and UT Southwestern Medical Center is designed to provide long-term medical monitoring for child, adolescent and adult survivors of childhood cancer. The nationally recognized program was established in 1989 and is one of only a few long-term follow-up survivor programs in the nation that bridges the gap from childhood to adulthood within a centralized medical system.

One childhood cancer survivor who is part of the ACE Program is Jeremiah Villareal of Mesquite, who plans to attend the conference.

An active soccer player, Villareal was stunned when the doctors told him he had acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 16. Jeremiah proved to be a fighter, and was given a new perspective on life.

Now healthy at age 21, he plans to finish college in the next three years and be a high school soccer coach. He explains, “It is our duty to better this world and realize that everything is not just about us. Between work, school, and my girlfriend I'm a busy man, and it's a blessing to be alive and busy.”