Ohio has created a new state service whose only job is to help families of children with cancer find doctors, clinical trials, insurance answers, and travel support without spending weeks doing it themselves. Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff announced the Pediatric Complex Care Navigation Program on Sept. 1, the first day of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
The program exists because of one family. Jayden Zurlinden of West Chester died in June at age 20 of osteosarcoma, a bone cancer diagnosed at 17, years after he survived a different cancer found when he was 18 months old. In his final weeks, his parents were researching clinical trials and medical studies while calling hospitals and insurance companies, trying to reach a treatment in California. He never made the trip.
