Patients and Families

When a child is diagnosed with cancer, families are faced with difficult decisions, complex information, and an urgent need for trusted care. Children’s Oncology Group (COG) helps support that journey by connecting children, adolescents, and young adults to a global network of specialists, research, and clinical trials working to improve outcomes and quality of life.

Some people reading this are parents or caregivers, while others are teens and young adults learning about their own diagnosis and treatment. When we say “you,” we mean a patient or caregiver.

How COG Supports Your Child’s Care Journey

Your child’s primary doctor and care team will guide treatment decisions based on your child’s specific diagnosis and needs. If your hospital is part of a COG member institution, your care team may also have access to COG research, clinical trials, and disease-specific expertise.

COG does not replace a child’s doctors. Instead, it supports care teams across its network by advancing research, developing clinical trials, and helping bring the latest scientific discoveries closer to patients. This means families may have access to research-informed treatment options through the providers and hospitals they already know and trust.

What is a Clinical Trial? 

Is a Clinical Trial right for me or my child?

There are many factors to consider when deciding to be in a clinical trial (sometimes called a “study” or a “research study”). Most of the progress we have made in improving outcomes for children and adolescents with cancer in the last 50 years has come from what we learn by conducting clinical trials. Asking important scientific questions about how to get better results for patients is the reason that organizations like COG do clinical trials.

Not every clinical trial succeeds in improving patient outcomes and not every patient enrolled in a trial will benefit from participating, but COG only opens clinical trials that we believe are scientifically sound and have the potential to improve outcomes for our patients. Our trials must follow strict guidelines and have meaningful, objective oversight to ensure that they are ethically and scientifically sound, with special protections for vulnerable patients like children and adolescents.

Only you and your family can decide if a clinical trial is right for you.  Your doctors and other healthcare providers will work with you to learn about the clinical trials that might be available for you and to give you as much information as you need to make the best decision. Your doctors will also give you a document called an Informed Consent that describes in detail any clinical trial you are thinking about.

The Informed Consent is like a permission slip. If you decide to participate in a trial, you will want to review this document carefully before you sign it.

It is important to know that if you decide to enroll in a clinical trial, you can withdraw from that trial at any time by talking with your doctor. You will not lose any care, rights, or benefits if you decide you don’t want to be in the trial anymore, and you will continue to receive the best possible medical care for your illness.

LEARN ABOUT INFORMED CONSENT

Surviving cancer has given me a sense of empathy for people who are going through chronic or life-threatening illnesses. In a lot of ways, I know what it’s like to be in their shoes. And it feels really meaningful to be able to help them heal.

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