Jacksonville-area doctors mark Childhood Cancer Awareness Month by featuring local providers

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Doctors in Jacksonville want parents to know they're doing all they can to keep their children healthy and keep their health care local.

Katherine Gilligan's 11-year-old son, Andrew, was diagnosed with a rare cancerous brain tumor when he was 4.

He was rushed to the emergency room at Wolfson Children’s Hospital, where he underwent surgery.

"We had to reteach him how to eat, walk and talk," Katherine Gilligan said.

Katherine Gilligan said all of his doctors helped him get better.

"They check him and take care of him, making sure it stays away and we’re really thankful for that," she said.

Nemours Children's Hospital told us about 115 children in our area will be diagnosed with pediatric cancer this year and about 95 percent of them will be treated by specialists here in the Jacksonville area.

On Friday, doctors and representatives from Wolfson Children’s Hospital, UF Health Proton Therapy Institute, Nemours Children Hospital, the Child Cancer Fund, and the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund kicked off National Childhood Cancer Month.

Their goal is to let the community know they have specialists on hand with the tools needed to treat children in our area.

"We have excellent care -- surgical care, oncology care, radiation care -- and ... it's kind of a hidden secret in Jacksonville," said Dr. Howard Katzenstein, the director of pediatric hematology/oncology at Nemours Children’s Hospital.

It was Andrew's journey that inspired his sister, Mary Anne Gilligan, to go to nursing school.

Eventually, she wants to land a job at Wolfson Children’s Hospital so she can help children like her brother live long and healthy lives.

"Just seeing how the nurse took care of him, just put a smile on his face, you know, walking in, in the morning even if he wasn’t feeling the best, it just really touched me," Mary Anne Gilligan said.

Cox Media Group