No place like home
Charlotte O'Shea and Mark Kieran, MD, PhD
When Janet O'Shea first noticed that her daughter Charlotte's eye was drooping, she never suspected it was because of atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT), a rare brain cancer that, until recently, was considered untreatable. The devastated O'Sheas turned to Dana-Farber, Children's Hospital Boston, and Mark Kieran, MD, PhD, who specializes in brain tumors in children. Fortunately, the aggressive cancer had not spread, and surgeons were able to remove the tumor. While 3-year-old Charlotte finishes her chemotherapy treatments at the Jimmy Fund Clinic, Kieran and colleague Charles Roberts, MD, PhD, are working on therapies to attack and, perhaps one day cure, AT/RT.
As Dana-Farber celebrates its 60th anniversary, Charlotte's story recalls the Institute's beginnings as a center for treating children with leukemia, and for translating laboratory discoveries into better therapies. Although the organization now cares for patients of all ages – and with many kinds of cancer and related diseases – it remains true to its roots as it seeks safer, more effective, and gentler treatments.
And Janet O'Shea, who once saw the Jimmy Fund Clinic as a scary place, now thinks of it as her family's second home.
