Son's Memory Drives Parents Cancer Quest
This holiday season marked three years since Paula and Todd Oskam of Melbourne lost their 3-month-old son, Maxwell James, to a then-undiagnosed pediatric cancer. What healthcare providers believed at the time to be a virus resulted in Maxwell dying suddenly the day after Christmas, 2017.
Maxwell had an undetected case of neuroblastoma, the most common form of cancer in infants. A baseball-sized tumor was present in Maxwell’s abdomen that necrotized and put his body into septic shock.
Once the cause of death was posthumously diagnosed, the Oskams immediately confronted their grief by learning as much as possible about their son’s condition. What they discovered surprised them.
“We were horrified to learn that since 1980, only four pediatric drugs have been approved in this country and that only 4% of the annual budget for the National Cancer Institute goes to pediatric-specific research,” Paula Oskam said. “Our children deserve better than that.”
By comparison, in 2019, 11 new cancer treatments were approved for adults, according to the U.S. Federal Drug Administration.
“Many times children are treated with lower doses of these adult drugs, which may work in the short-term but can have devastating effects later in life. We cannot continue to treat cancer in children the same way we treat it in adults,” Paula Oskam said.
So she and Todd Oskam set to work to change the trajectory for other children like Maxwell, and their families.
The Maxwell James Oskam Foundation was founded in 2018 and is a 501c-3 nonprofit.
The foundation has already made an impact, helping fund clinical trials for five children through a partnership with the national organization Beat CC. The trials are testing a drug that aims to keep neuroblastoma patients who have reached remission in that cancer-free state. It is slated for FDA approval in 2021, making it only the fifth drug approved specifically for pediatric cancer treatment.
In 2020, the foundation donated $15,000 to Beat CC to establish a fund for children who have been newly diagnosed with neuroblastoma to receive genomic sequencing, which enables them to have tailored treatment for their cancer, specific to their tumor.
Paula Oskam also has developed a bereavement outreach program for unexpected deaths in partnership with Health First’s hospitals. The program debuted on what would have been Maxwell’s first birthday and it offers resources for families such as grief counseling, support groups and more.
Like other nonprofits, the coronavirus pandemic hit the financial goals of the Maxwell James Oskam Foundation hard, forcing cancellation of the foundation’s annual in-person fundraiser.
As 2021 begins, the Oskams hope for a healthier outlook for the estimated 15,780 children who will be diagnosed with pediatric cancer this year, according to the American Childhood Cancer Organization.
“When this pandemic is under control, pediatric cancer will still be here. It’s our goal to keep our awareness and research going, for the future of our children,” Paula Oskam said.
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