Hearing that your child has leukemia is traumatizing. You may feel overwhelmed with the information you are learning. It is important to remember that no one is to blame for the disease.
There are four types of leukemia in children:
- acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)
- acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
- chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)
- juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML)
Chronic leukemias often progress slowly. In contrast, acute leukemias usually develop more quickly.
Knowing that modern medicine has greatly improved treatment and survival for children with leukemia will give you hope and help you get through this difficult time. For example, improvements in leukemia treatment in the past 30 years have increased survival rates for children with ALL and AML:
For ALL, the 5-year survival rate is approximately 90% for children younger than 15 years, and 75% for teenagers aged 15 to 19 years.
For AML, the survival rate for children under 15 years of age has increased from less than 20% to 68%. For teenagers aged 15 to 19 years, the survival rate has increased from less than 20% to 57%.