Nearly 90% of children diagnosed with cancer will survive their cancer in the United States. The Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders recognizes that cancer survivors have many unique medical issues and may be at risk of long-term effects as a result of their cancer or its therapy. We follow cancer survivors who are disease-free and are at least two years after completion of cancer therapy. We provide the special care and resources that are customized for their unique medical and psychological needs.
The After the Cancer Experience (ACE) at Children’s Health/UT Southwestern is the first and largest pediatric cancer survivor program in North Texas. The nationally recognized ACE program is unique among survivorship programs in that it bridges medical care from childhood through adult life within a single medical system.
The ACE Program team works with patients to educate them about life after cancer and monitor for possible therapy-related late effects.
Each ACE Program participant receives a Cancer Treatment Summary that includes a description of their cancer diagnosis, detailed treatment information, complications encountered during treatment or any late effects. Program highlights include:
Education about risk factors and health maintenance
Social worker dedicated to helping patients and their families cope with the challenges that are experienced by childhood cancer survivors
Assistance of transition of pediatric cancer survivors to adult survivorship services
At the forefront of medical research
The ACE Program is a founding member of the Childhood Cancer Survivors Study (CCSS), the leading consortium in late effects research. Numerous studies from the CCSS have determined the frequency of late effects and identified risk factors for late effects in this childhood cancer survivors. ACE team members conduct and participate in research studies about the unique problems and needs of cancer survivors. Learn more about our innovative research.
Personalized care for pediatric cancer survivors
At Children’s Health, we build personalized cancer treatment summaries and care plans for each cancer survivor. We look at factors like genetics, what treatments you’ve had and how old you are when you went through treatment. We use these factors to help predict, address and prevent future challenges, so every child has the best opportunity for a long, healthy life.
ACE adult appointments
We facilitate transition to adult survivorship services where the personalized comprehensive care continues. Within the adult primary care survivorship clinic, ACE patients are able to have a targeted survivorship visit, or have both their primary care and survivorship needs taken care of by our team. Our goal is to ensure all components of survivorship care are addressed at your visit (acute concerns, late and long term effects, and preventive health). Working closely with the UTSW Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, survivors of cancer are able to access expanded support services such as social work, exercise, behavioral health/psychology/ and nutrition. We have locations for our adult program that include:
Ft Worth: Primary Care Cancer Survivorship Clinic
Address: 400 W Magnolia Ave Ft Worth, TX 76104 817-645-3900 (The clinic is located within the Moncrief Cancer Institute on the first floor)
Dallas: Primary Care Cancer Survivorship Clinic
Address: 5939 Harry Hines Blvd; Ste 303 Dallas, TX 75390 214-645-3900 (The clinic is located within the Family Medicine Practice Office)
For additional support, connect with an ACE social worker
The ACE social worker is dedicated to helping patients and their families cope with the challenges that may result from childhood cancer. Psychosocial issues can affect every aspect of the survivor’s life, but your social worker helps to find needed resources. The ACE program social worker is trained to provide a variety of services for you and your family.
Preparing cancer survivors for their future
The ACE Program team works with patients to educate them about life after cancer and monitor for possible therapy-related late effects.
Each ACE Program participant receives a Cancer Treatment Summary that includes a description of their cancer diagnosis, detailed treatment information, complications encountered during treatment or any late effects. Program highlights include:
Education about risk factors and health maintenance
Social worker dedicated to helping patients and their families cope with the challenges that are experienced by childhood cancer survivors
Assistance of transition of pediatric cancer survivors to adult survivorship services
At the forefront of medical research
The ACE Program is a founding member of the Childhood Cancer Survivors Study (CCSS), the leading consortium in late effects research. Numerous studies from the CCSS have determined the frequency of late effects and identified risk factors for late effects in this childhood cancer survivors. ACE team members conduct and participate in research studies about the unique problems and needs of cancer survivors. Learn more about our innovative research.
Personalized care for pediatric cancer survivors
At Children’s Health, we build personalized cancer treatment summaries and care plans for each cancer survivor. We look at factors like genetics, what treatments you’ve had and how old you are when you went through treatment. We use these factors to help predict, address and prevent future challenges, so every child has the best opportunity for a long, healthy life.
ACE adult appointments
We facilitate transition to adult survivorship services where the personalized comprehensive care continues. Within the adult primary care survivorship clinic, ACE patients are able to have a targeted survivorship visit, or have both their primary care and survivorship needs taken care of by our team. Our goal is to ensure all components of survivorship care are addressed at your visit (acute concerns, late and long term effects, and preventive health). Working closely with the UTSW Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, survivors of cancer are able to access expanded support services such as social work, exercise, behavioral health/psychology/ and nutrition. We have locations for our adult program that include:
Ft Worth: Primary Care Cancer Survivorship Clinic
Address: 400 W Magnolia Ave Ft Worth, TX 76104 817-645-3900 (The clinic is located within the Moncrief Cancer Institute on the first floor)
Dallas: Primary Care Cancer Survivorship Clinic
Address: 5939 Harry Hines Blvd; Ste 303 Dallas, TX 75390 214-645-3900 (The clinic is located within the Family Medicine Practice Office)
For additional support, connect with an ACE social worker
The ACE social worker is dedicated to helping patients and their families cope with the challenges that may result from childhood cancer. Psychosocial issues can affect every aspect of the survivor’s life, but your social worker helps to find needed resources. The ACE program social worker is trained to provide a variety of services for you and your family.
Shortly after Andrew started crawling in 2015, he stopped using his arms and legs. His parents, Lisa and Thomas, didn't think much of it, but brought him to his pediatrician's office for a check-up, just in case. After examining Andrew, his pediatrician couldn't determine what was wrong. He suggested Lisa and Thomas bring Andrew to the emergency room to rule out any serious issues.
When Carson was born, nearly everything he ate made him sick. His mom, Stephanie, tried 10 different baby formulas before she finally found one that worked. His pediatrician suspected he was suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and a blood test soon determined Carson was also allergic to five different foods.
In 2012, Riley and his family were sitting around the table playing Bingo during the Thanksgiving holiday when he sat up straight in his chair looking completely gray. He had a stomach ache the night before so his parents took him to the emergency room at Children’s Medical Center Dallas right away.
Luis was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the retina, when he was just 7 months old. It’s a day his mother, Crissty, will never forget for two reasons. First, the obvious: It was the day the terms cancer, chemotherapy, survival rate and prognosis entered their vocabulary. But even more than that, it was also the first time Luis called her mama. Understandably, Crissty likes to focus on the latter milestone.
When Jack was just three years old, he was visiting a fountain at the park with his grandma – an x-ray technician – when she noticed a bump on his right side. He saw his pediatrician the next day who referred him to Children’s Health for a scan, which revealed a mass growing on his right kidney.
