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“Cameron is a typical little boy. He loves to play. He loves Power Rangers and riding his scooter,” Cameron’s mother Nakesha told Daily Voice, while sitting in a room at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center.
Cameron, who turned 4 in January, stays at the hospital for days at a time while receiving his chemotherapy treatments. And he recently become part of a new groundbreaking clinical trial at the hospital.
The trial has the goal of preventing relapse in children with neuroblastoma in remission using a new oral investigational drug called difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), which is used to treat African sleeping sickness.
“Just to have additional treatment, something that is not going to hurt him, but potentially help him, is a blessing. It is something that we appreciate,” Davis said.
The trial, funded by the Sohn Conference Foundation, is being managed at the hospital by Dr. Derek Hanson, a pediatric neuro-oncologist.
“We are committed to finding the most cutting-edge treatments for children battling cancer and empower them with every option to fight back,” Dr. Hanson said. “We are encouraged by the trial’s promising initial results at other sites, and are hopeful this will make a difference in the lives of families in New Jersey facing this difficult childhood cancer.”
Nakesha Davis said she and her husband Reggie are taking Cameron’s treatment one step at a time.
“He is a little one, but he is a fighter. He is definitely strong,” she said. “We are hopeful.”
She also said they are thankful for organizations like the Sohn Conference Foundation.
“Until you have it (cancer) hit home, you just don’t realize how amazing these foundations are and how much help they provide,” she said.
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