Well Beyond Medicine: The Nemours Children's Health Podcast
Exploring people, programs and partnerships addressing whole child health.
Well Beyond Medicine: The Nemours Children's Health Podcast
Ep. 155: First Pitch and Lasting Hope with the Philadelphia Phillies
Nemours Children’s Health is proud to be the official Children’s Hospital of the Philadelphia Phillies. For the third year in a row, the Phillies welcomed our podcast team to share powerful stories from Childhood Cancer Awareness Night on September 13, 2025.
In our first segment, we talk with Douglas J. Harrison, MD, MS, Division Chief of Hematology/Oncology/Transplant and Cellular Therapy, Inaugural Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation Presidential Endowed Chair, Nemours Children’s Health, who reflects on his unlikely journey from college theater major to nationally recognized pediatric oncologist and researcher.
In our second segment, we meet 11-year-old pediatric cancer patient Vishaal and his sister, Sahasra, who share how life shifts for a family after a cancer diagnosis. We’re also joined by Vishaal’s clinician, Nicholas Manini, MD, Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist, Nemours Children's Health, who offers insights into Vishaal’s care and prognosis.
Douglas J. Harrison, MD, MS, Division Chief of Hematology/Oncology/Transplant and Cellular Therapy, Inaugural Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation Presidential Endowed Chair, Nemours Children’s Health
Nicholas Manini, MD, Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist, Nemours Children's Health
Vishaal A., pediatric cancer patient
Sahsra A., sister of a pediatric cancer patient
Host/Producer: Carol Vassar
Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management.
Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.
Announcer:
Welcome to Well Beyond Medicine, the world's top-ranked Children's health podcast produced by Nemours Children's Health. Subscribe on any platform at Nemourswellbeyond.org or find us on YouTube.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Each week, we'll be joined by innovators and experts from around the world. Exploring anything and everything related to the 85% of child health impacts that occur outside the doctor's office. I'm your host, Carol Vassar. And now that you are here, let's go.
Music:
Well Beyond Medicine
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
On September 13th, the Nemours podcast team made its third annual trip to Citizens Bank Park to see the Philadelphia Phillies host, in this instance, the Kansas City Royals and take part in a Major League Baseball childhood cancer awareness night. As the official children's hospital of the Phillies, there was a large contingent of Nemours Associates, patients, and families, plus Phillies staff, taking part in numerous events throughout the game. From running the bases to announcing the players to singing the national anthem.
A little bit later on, we'll hear from an eleven-year-old Nemours cancer patient who threw out the ceremonial first pitch at that game. Right now, though, let's hear my conversation with Dr. Douglas Harrison. Dr. Harrison is Nemours' newly named division chief for hematology, oncology, and stem cell transplant. He's also the inaugural holder of the Lisa Dean Moseley Institute Foundation for Cancer and Blood Disorders Presidential Endowed Chair. He brings to the role a national reputation for excellence in both pediatric cancer treatment and research from his time at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas and Hasbro Children's, part of the Brown University Health System in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is also where Dr. Harrison received his undergraduate degree. In a major that is probably very different than the one you might expect of someone who goes on to become a pediatric oncologist.
Interesting to find out that your major was theater. You're a theater kid, aren't you?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
It's unusual in my field, but yeah, I was a theater kid. And yeah, I majored in theater, speech, and dance, although I definitely landed in the theater part of that major.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Talk about your background and how you kind of made that transition from being a theater major to a pediatric oncologist.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
It wasn't an easy transition. When I was at Brown, all my friends who were in theater were horrified that I was taking pre-med classes. And all my pre-med colleagues were horrified that I was taking theater classes. They did not mix. But for me, I loved being on stage, I loved making people laugh. But as I went through that decision, I really knew that I wanted to impact people more directly. And so that's why I chose medicine. I think from a very early age, I was always going to be a doctor. But then I had a theater jaunt in my twenties.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Did you move back to the Northeast to be closer to New York to see great theater?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
It's a very nice fringe benefit. But no, I moved back to New York because I'm so excited to be at Nemours. It's just an amazing place, and it's just a really exciting time.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
We're sure glad to have you.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I'm thrilled.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
How do you combine ... I'm kind of stuck on this theater theme here. But how do you combine what you do as a pediatric oncologist with some of your skills that you learned in your theater work?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I never thought that they would mix. All through medical school, I thought, "Well, I'm leaving that behind." But as I got older into my career, and I definitely have the gray hair to show it at this point, I was able to see how impactful what I do as a pediatric oncologist is; there's such an impact from my theater training. And I'm able to kind of make people laugh if I need to make people laugh, and I can very easily kind of be whatever a child in front of me needs to be or a family needs me to be. In the worst circumstances, we're treating children who have cancer, and they are fighting for their lives, literally. But my theater training allows me to kind of move in a lot of different directions to wherever I need to go for that family, for whatever it is that they need. So I can somehow rely on different aspects of my personality to make that journey for these children and their families a lot easier.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
A little bit of improv.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Tons of improv. Yeah, for sure. And that's another aspect of it that really kind of comes out. So it's been really nice. I never thought they would mix; I thought I was leaving it behind. But over the last 10 or 15 years or so, I've really been able to see how much that theater training really kind of, I guess, sings through me as I do my job.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Do you sing as you do your job?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I don't ... well, I have sung.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Okay.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
But no, I don't. Not constantly singing, no. But I can sing if I need to. Not today.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Okay. He saw the question in my eyes.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Sorry, sorry, sorry, podcast listeners, I'm not doing that today.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
So you're both a provider and a researcher. You are balancing cutting-edge science and research with family-centered care. Pediatric oncology is very much about the family. How do you balance the two of those?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Yeah. Well, it's interesting in pediatric oncology, a lot of what we do, if you went back 50 years ago from now, the vast majority of children were not cured with cancer. And 50 or 60 years ago, we had no idea what to do. But now all the hospitals in the country came together and realized that there was such a need for research to move the field forward. And so it's really such an important part of our field research because we're trying to constantly cure more children with cancer. And in order to do that, we need that research to really kind of tell us what the next step is.
I take care of a tumor called Rhabdomyosarcoma primarily, and solid tumors, sarcomas. And we've really kind of stalled in those efforts with that disease. And so we need more research to kind of get to the next step. We cure 60 to 70% of children with Rhabdomyosarcoma. We want to get to a hundred percent for all the diseases that we treat. In order to do that, we need more research. And that's great about Nemours because we offer an amazing holistic environment to give children and families, as we treat them through this very, very scary journey. But at the same time, we're making sure that we're at the forefront of childhood cancer research to make sure that every child that comes to Nemours gets the best that there is, whatever that is at that time.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Give us a little bit of hope here. You talked about the last 50 years, we're saving more lives, aren't we?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, there is tremendous hope in pediatric oncology. Pediatric oncology is ironically a very happy place to be because we're moving the field so forward so fast. Twenty years ago, I was training, I mean, I'm older as I've already said. But 20 years ago, I was training, and there are diseases that we treat now that we're curing now that were unheard of being cured in the early 2000s when I started my journey as a pediatric oncologist. So to see those advances that these researchers and that we're making in research, that are moving into the clinic to the children to cure more kids, it's amazing. So now we live in a place where over 80% of children are cured with childhood cancer. We need to get a hundred percent, that's why we need to do more research.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
You treat adolescents, teens, basically. What is it like serving that particular population? What are their special needs when it comes to pediatric oncology?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
So the adolescent and young adult population is kind of an orphan population in a way. A lot of the pediatric oncology trials really target the younger kids, and a lot of the adult trials target the older kids. And so we really need a lot more efforts in that field because those adolescents and young adults from 15 to age 30, they don't have as much kind of research drive behind them. We need to find out, what are the best trials for those kids? But at the same time, making sure we're serving the younger kids. But those children between 15 and 35 ... or the 18 to 35 are not children. But those children of those adolescents and young adults, we were refer to it as kind of an orphan cohort of kids. Because there's just not enough research that's being done on those kids specifically. So that's becoming a bigger and bigger field within the field of pediatric oncology. And we want to grow those efforts at Nemours and at the Lisa Dean Moseley Institute.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
There's so much emphasis in what you're saying on research. Where's the dearth and where's the hope?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
So the hope is there. If you think about some of the tumors that we treat, neuroblastoma, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, I mean, we have made such incredible strides in moving those bars forward. Children with neuroblastoma who were classified as high risk when I was training had a survival of about 30 to 40%. It's now 70 to 80%. And that's with research, that's with looking at novel pathways in these tumors. Because right now we're getting to a place where we can really get at the heart at what drives these tumors, the very basic molecular mechanism that's starting the tumor.
And what we're now finding is we can find treatments that target those pathways directly. Which is much less toxic than our chemotherapy, which is taking a sledgehammer to a cancer and really kind of hitting it really hard. Everybody knows and is aware of the very many side effects that come with conventional chemotherapy. We're trying to find therapies that maximize our survival rates and keep them where they are, if not better. But are safer. And so we're starting to find kind of targeted therapies that really get at the deepest biologic basis of these tumors, that go to these pathways, go to these mutations and knock them out.
And that has given us cures in certain cancers just with single agent therapy. So it's a constantly moving field. I love doing it. I always thought I missed my acting, but everything is moving forward at such a rapid pace. And it's so great to have the Phillies behind us and this ... I mean, this night, this childhood cancer awareness night. And everybody coming out and honoring the children that we serve and the families that we serve. We have two huge sections of staff who are just here cheering on all the kids. It's an amazing event. I've been so touched and inspired by just seeing what everybody is doing here in Philadelphia for these kids.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
What do you think a night like this does for people who are either in attendance or who hear about it? Are we looking at kind of something is sort of hidden and swept under the rug in terms of pediatric oncology?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Well, I think that it's quite rare to have a child diagnosed with cancer. And part of the reason why it's been such a challenge in terms of generating research dollars to that field is because the tumors themselves and children, thank goodness, are rare. I think a night like this kind of ... but if it's your child, God forbid, that's your whole life.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Right.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
And so having everybody out here seeing these kids, seeing that they're happy, they're playing, they're doing what children should do. I think it just brings awareness to this whole stadium and hopefully society to know that these kids are out there and they need our support and our help.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
As you look at the research that you are doing and would like to do and further here at Nemours, tell us how the revolution in AI might come to aid that.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I think there's going to be so much that we are going to ... I don't think we've even come close to unlocking the power of what AI can do in cancer research. And I think there's a tremendous amount of bioinformatics and different things that we could do to analyze different sequencing of the genetic sequence of the tumor and all that stuff. I don't even think we've touched the forefront of what it can do, but I do think we are on the cusp of revolutionizing the field of pediatric oncology. Whether that's through AI, whether that's people in the lab, pipetting and doing that basic science work at the bench. We're really close. And it's really nice to see everybody come out of support because we need that support to get us to the next step, which is to cure every kid with cancer.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
You alluded to this a little bit earlier, and I don't think we named it, per se. But you talked a little bit about getting at those tumors in a more personalized manner.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Yes.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Are we heading towards that goal?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I think, definitely. And certainly some of the adult cancers have really ... the therapy has been completely changed. Something like chronic myeloid leukemia, we can now put patients into remission with a single pill. And I think we're getting there with multiple different cancers.
Some of the challenges is that as we really kind of get to understand these tumors, we find out that a tumor that we thought was the same and multiple different ... we find out that you have a different mutation that gave rise to the same tumor that this patient had. And those tumors are actually different. And as we figure out more and more what's driving these tumors at the molecular or genetic level, we're finding out that there're actually a lot more variety in these tumors. And so that's another challenge. But I think we're going to get to a place where you're going to be able to take a pill and it's going to keep you in remission, hopefully forever. Or not. I think maybe the pill ... one oral therapy will be enough. We need a lot more dollars to get there. We need a lot more research to get there. But I think that's where we're headed.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
You also need collaboration to get there-
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
For sure.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Both nationally and internationally.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Absolutely.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
I think that might be part of your leadership plan here at Nemours. I could be wrong. Talk about that.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Yeah, so I mean, part of the way that we've gotten here, because these tumors are so rare, is we have to align with other centers across the country. And so myself and several members of our faculty have alliances...collaborations with multiple institutions across the country. I came from Houston. I was at MD Anderson Cancer Center before. And so we're going to keep those relationships close. We have to work together. So we're part of several consortia at Nemours, whether that's the Children's Oncology Group, the transplant consortium. And I think we might join other consortiums to bring ... make sure that the best clinical trials, the best therapies, whatever's out there, we're bringing gene therapy for patients with sickle cell to Nemours. All these different things are happening. And so we are going to be at the front of everything. We're going to bring the best to Nemours. That's the goal.
We're very fortunate to have the Lisa ... I want to talk a little bit, if it's oka,y about-
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Please.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation. They're one of our biggest supporters, and they donated a tremendous amount of money to build a whole new center at Nemours for children with blood disorders and cancer. It's beautiful. I mean a huge new inpatient unit. We're going to open our outpatient infusion center in December. It's going to quadruple the size that we had to take care of children before this center opens. So we're just really excited about what's going on at Nemours.
And I feel like I won the lottery. I feel like I landed here; I didn't do any of the work. And now here I am. But it's such an honor. It's such a privilege. We have such an amazing team. The kids are so well taken care of and a very nurturing, holistic environment. We're looking at the whole child to make them all well. And that's just so exciting to me because even if you're taking care of the most hard to take care of cancer, we still need to take care of the child.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Right.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
We still have to play, we still have to get good nutrition. I tell my patients all the time, they always ask, "What should I eat? Can I eat French fries? Can I eat cookies?" Whatever. And I always say ... I'm asked this all the time by my patients. I always say, "Look, I'm still a pediatrician. You have to eat your fruits and vegetables. You have to eat healthy. But if you have a French fry or two, it's okay." But I think we can ... Nemours really thinks about the whole child, the whole family. And that's what you need to do for pediatric oncology, hematology, and stem cell therapy. We take care of the families. And Nemours does that in an incredibly beautiful, wonderful way.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Now, I know you're new to Nemours.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I am.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
And you get it. You've got this whole-
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I'm trying.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
...well beyond medicine thing...
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I'm trying.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
You've got it. You gave one of the best definitions I've ever heard just now. I want to ask about your previous work at MD Anderson, and I believe that before that, you were at Hasbro?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I was.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Is there a patient who stays with you, maybe inspires your work?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Oh, many.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Can you talk about that?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Many. Yeah, no. I mean, I have patients from Rhode Island that I'm still in touch with. I have patients from Houston that I will maintain contact with. Yeah, they all stay with me. I have pictures of them in my office for sure. I have pictures ... I have this picture, and I don't know if any of my old friends from Rhode Island are listening. But you get so close to the families that we take care of, not just the children. Therapy can sometimes take two years. So you really get to know the family. We become their family when we're taking care of them.
And there's an organization where they take pictures of the kids. They ride makeup and clothes and all this stuff, and they do this beautiful kind of portrait. And we did this at Hasbro, and all of the moms of several patients of ours made me get in the picture with them. It's like my favorite picture. It's all these 30, 40-year-old women and me as a 32-year-old doctor. So that's in my office. And I have multiple, multiple patients, children with leukemia, Wilms tumor, neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, bone sarcomas, osteosarcoma. And I used to take care of a lot of brain tumors in Rhode Island, too. So yes, many, many, many patients, and I'm still in touch with them.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
You're still in touch with them; they're still kind of the engine behind your work.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Yeah, for sure. For sure. And now I get to see children that I took care of that I met with their parents in the emergency room, they're now in college. Some of them are having children, getting married. I had one patient who went to medical school. I mean, it's so inspiring to see these kids, and then they grow up and they have their own children, they get married. Yeah, I might be going to a wedding of my patient in a couple of months.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
There you go.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Yeah, it's exciting.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Before we finish up today, I want to talk about mentorship. That's something I noticed in your CV, it was kind of this through line through your CV.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Absolutely.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
How important is mentorship? How important was it to you? How important is it to mentor others?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
It's hugely important to me in both directions. I've had incredible mentors. My division chief at MD Anderson, my division chief at Rhode Island and Hasbro, my department chair here. I mean, I've had amazing mentors who have taught me along the way. I come from a family of teachers. My grandmothers were teachers, my mother was a teacher. My mother's actually a physician, but she was a teacher for several years. So I think it's in me. And I always say to my ... when you pursue advanced training to be a pediatric oncologist, you do a three-year fellowship. And I always say to my fellows, you teach me more than I ever could teach you. Because hearing the questions that I realized, I have to look something up.
It's been a wonderful thing to kind of bring the next generation forward. And we do that so well here. Where I was previously, we had several fellows join with us as faculty, which was the most exciting thing to see. And then work side by side with the people that you trained. I don't know, there's not much more satisfying than that.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
When we sit down here in Citizens Bank Park in five years, what would you like to have had happen? What would you like to accomplish in the next five years?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Wow. I'd like to say that we're going to cure all childhood cancer in the next five years. But-
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
I like that.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I think we need more time. So that's my major goal. I think it's really ... like I said, it's a really exciting time for our field. We are making tremendous advancement. I really think that with the support of Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation, we're going to put Nemours at the forefront of all pediatric cancer and hematology programs in the country, like at the top. We already are close to the top; we're going to be at the top. I mean, there's just so much support behind us. I think we're going to do amazing things, and I'm just so privileged to be a part of it.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
The work you do is very family-involved.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
For sure.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
As we close out, is there a phrase or are there words of wisdom that you have for families that you share or would like to share with people who might be listening today?
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Sure. I mean, I always tell my families like, I can't promise you that everything's going to be okay. But what I do tell all my families is, there's always hope. No matter how bad this cancer is, we can always hope. And that's I think, what we need ... I think, right tonight, we want to celebrate the children, honor the children, and move forward. But always know there's tremendous hope in this field. And that's why I'm in it.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
And with that, Dr. Douglas Harrison go back to the game-
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I will.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Enjoy the game.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
I'm excited.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
And thank you for being on the podcast.
Dr. Douglas Harrison, Nemours Children's Health:
Thank you so much for having me. This was amazing, and thank you for doing it.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Dr. Douglas Harrison is the new Division Chief for hematology oncology and stem cell transplant at Nemours Children's Health. He's also the inaugural holder of the Lisa Dean Moseley Institute Foundation for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Presidential Endowed Chair.
As has become tradition during our time at Citizens Bank Park, we have the privilege of speaking with a young cancer patient about their cancer journey. Vishaal is an eleven-year-old Nemours patient, diagnosed with the disease last year. He had the awesome experience of throwing out a ceremonial first pitch at the game to one of his own clinicians, hematologist oncologist, Dr. Nick Manini. Who joins us on mic to talk about Vishaal's treatment and prognosis. As does Vishaal's fifteen-year-old sister, Sahasra, who speaks to the sibling experience. Which in and of itself is not easy. We started our conversation learning about the things Vishaal liked to do and his favorite school subjects in the time before his cancer diagnosis. Here's Vishaal.
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Well, first of all, my favorite subject was math, and it still is.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Still is, okay.
Vishaal, cancer patient:
I used to play soccer a little bit. I don't do it much anymore.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
You don't play it anymore?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah, not much.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Not much. Is it because you're still undergoing treatment right now? Are you tired-
Vishaal, cancer patient:
No, no.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Because of that, or just tired of soccer?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Tired of soccer.
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah, it gets a little boring sometimes.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
It does get a little boring, I can see that. When you found out you had cancer, how did things change in your life?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Well, first of all, I cried a lot.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
You did? Were you scared?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah, mostly scared.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
What were you scared of? Cancer's a big word, isn't it?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
I can see. I think I would cry too. What changed? Did you have to go to the doctor a lot more?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah, I did visit a doctor a lot more.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
What was it like at home? I'm sure your family life changed.
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah, that changed a lot, too. I could barely go outside much because of the treatment.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
They were afraid you'd get an infection or something?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Okay.
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Something like that. Yeah.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Did you go to school still?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Online school started like a couple months after treatment started.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Okay. And that was to kind of protect you from getting infections from other kids?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
What else? Did anything else change?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
I watched TV a lot more.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
You watch TV a lot more. Okay.
Vishaal, cancer patient:
There's not much to do.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
There's not much to do. Online school was pretty easy. And then you were watching a lot of TV.
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
I can see that. When you first started coming to Nemours, who helped you? Were there people who helped you? Do you remember their names at all?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
I remember there were two Julias, one from Child Life who played UNO with me. And then the other one who was my doctor, Dr. Manini, he also helped out a lot.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Well, usually you have a lot of doctors when you're sick and in the hospital, right?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Did they help you feel a little more comfortable-
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
With being in the hospital and-
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Definitely.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Getting the treatment? How did they do that? They played UNO, I heard you say. Legos?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah, they talked with me a lot, too.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
What did they talk about?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Well, they explained the treatment a lot more. I talk about the video games I play with them.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Sahasra, I want to turn to you. You are?
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
I'm his older sister.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
By a couple of years.
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
Yeah.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
What happened? You found out your brother had cancer. How'd you find that out?
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
Well, Vishaal kept dropping hints. I went to the hospital to visit him because I was staying at my friend's house. I stayed there for a whole four months, I think.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Oh my.
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
Yeah. I didn't visit him that often, but you would call him a lot. So I went to the hospital with my friend, and then Vishaal just kept dropping hints at what I had. And he thought I was going to be so dramatic about it because he thinks I'm very dramatic. And he just kept telling me, and then I knew what it was, but I didn't want to say it. And then I cried after because I just couldn't imagine that happening.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
You were staying at your friend's house for all this time because your brother was [inaudible 00:25:33]-
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
Yes, because I didn't want to get him sick.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Was this a confusing time for you?
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
Well, at first it was because like a lot of people ... so I was staying at one of my best friend's house, and I stayed there. And then there were a bunch of other people who were like, she might stay here for one day, she might stay at the hospital with her parents one day. And I was so confused, where am I going to stay?
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Right.
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
But I turned out, I stayed with my friends most of the time.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
And how did it change ... I asked Vishaal the same question...how did it change your family life?
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
Well, I didn't get to see my parents often, and I missed them. And I missed Vishaal as well because I'm very used to being around him.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
You love your brother, don't you?
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
Yes, I do. Very much.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Is he your only sibling?
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
Yes.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
I can see that. Even though he's poking you before we get on camera here.
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
Yes.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Dr. Manini, I'm going to turn to you. I understand that Vishaal has been very animated throughout all of his treatment. Talk about his treatment with permission from his family off camera, talk a little bit about the kind of cancer that he has and the treatment that he's undergone.
Dr. Nick Manini, Nemours Children's Health:
Yeah. Vishaal had anaplastic large cell lymphoma. His treatment was several months, maybe six-ish, give or take a few weeks. And it required lengthy stays in the hospital for four or five, six, seven days at a time. And then he would get to go home, but he has to come right back. Because we have to make sure his labs all look good and things like that. So there was a lot of back and forth from the hospital to the clinic to home. And they don't live close, so that's another tough aspect of it. But everyone got excited when Vishaal was coming to clinic or coming to the hospital because he's just such a good kid.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
I hear he's quite the talker. I also heard that Christmas was quite the event at Nemours when you were there. Can you tell me about that?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Well, first of all, before the treatment, I was expecting one or two gifts for Christmas. The funny thing is, I ended up with 20.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
That's more than I got. Sahasra, were you there on Christmas with him?
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
Yes, I went back to visit him on Christmas. And I opened presents with him and I watched him open presents. He built a tower out of his presents.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Out of his presents. Not out of the Legos, but out of the presents.
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
Yeah, the unopened ones, he just stacked them on top. I was happy to see that he was happy.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Oh, good. That's a good big sister, right?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
I also heard, Vishaal, that your room at Nemours felt like a hotel. You had a TV, you had an Xbox. What was your favorite thing to do when you were in the hospital and you weren't having treatment?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Probably using the Xbox to watch TV.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Using the Xbox to watch TV. All right.
Vishaal, cancer patient:
I've ever had an Xbox, so.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Oh, okay, so this was new?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah, I played on Nintendo before that.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Oh, okay. What was it like tonight to throw out the ball on the field Childhood Cancer Awareness night?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Well, first of all, I miss by like 10 feet, but.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
I wasn't going to say anything. Just being on the field, I've never been on the field at a big ballpark like this. Tell me about it.
Vishaal, cancer patient:
It was exciting and also kind of scary because there's a lot of people watching. Mostly exciting.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
What's your prognosis? I'm going to address this to Dr. Manini. The prognosis for Vishaal is what?
Dr. Nick Manini, Nemours Children's Health:
Excellent.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Excellent. All right. So what are the next five years for you? What are you going to be when you grow up?
Vishaal, cancer patient:
I've always wanted to make a car company.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Make a car company.
Vishaal, cancer patient:
Yeah.
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Excellent. So we'll look for Vishaal Automobiles Incorporated in 25 years. How's that sound? Vishaal, Dr. Manini, Sahasra, thank you so much for being on the Nemours Well Beyond Medicine Podcast.
Sahasra, sibling of cancer patient:
No problem.
Dr. Nick Manini, Nemours Children's Health:
Thanks for having us.
Music:
Well Beyond Medicine
Carol Vassar, podcast host/producer:
Thank you so much to the Philadelphia Phillies organization for hosting us for Childhood Cancer Awareness Night. Thanks also to Vishaal, Sahasra, Dr. Manini, and Dr. Harrison for taking time out from the fun of a major league baseball game to talk with us on the Nemours Well Beyond Medicine Podcast.
Finally, thank you for listening. And by the way, the Phillies won that game over the Royals by a score of eight to six.
Now that the podcast team is back from Philly, we're planning our next trips to interview folks in Orlando, Florida, at the Ginsburg Institute Symposium, followed by Health 2025 in Las Vegas, and then we're onto the Milken Institute in Washington, DC.
You can play where in the world is the Nemours podcast team by subscribing to our monthly e-newsletter, if you haven't already. Just head to our website, Nemourswellbeyond.org. While you're there, you can subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, or check out any episodes you may have missed. That's Nemourswellbeyond.org.
The podcast is also available on your favorite podcast app or smart speaker, as well as the Nemours YouTube channel.
Our podcast production team for this episode includes Cheryl Munn, Susan Masucci, Lauren Teta, and Alex Wall. Video production by our on-site videographer, Britt Moore, and audio production by yours truly.
Coming up next time, making tech and AI work for nurses, a conversation with Dr. Katie Boston Leary of the American Nurses Association. I'm Carol Vassar. Until then, remember, we can change children's health for good, well beyond medicine.
Music:
Well Beyond Medicine
