Markie Perez is completing her treatment for thyroid cancer.
The 11-year-old was born with an active thyroid. Doctors found her cancer during an annual checkup. "There are no words, there really are no words. It's been a roller coaster," says father Mark.
A new study shows thyroid cancer and kidney cancer are on the rise among American children although both diseases are still extremely rare. "We've seen a dramatic increase, I think we've seen almost a double of referrals over past several years," says Dr. Raynald Samoa of City of Hope Hospitals.
Even with the increase there are still only eight childhood cases of thyroid cancer each year for every million children. The number is even lower for kidney cancer. The study's author, Dr. David Siegel, says more studies are needed to determine what's causing the increase. "We do know that thyroid cancer is increasing in adults and we know that thyroid cancer in adults is associated, not caused by, but associated with obesity so these are areas that we need to focus further research on."
Markie will need to take hormones and get regular checkups. But her family knows she is one of the lucky ones. "She's gonna be fine. Doctors give her a good prognosis. She's gonna be great."
The study, from researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says even though the overall childhood cancer rate remained stable, there were slight increases among African-Americans and adolescents.
