Humans of UNMC: Bruce Gordon, M.D.

This is one of the “Humans of UNMC” social media features spotlighting the people of the UNMC community and their stories. To see others in this series, find them on UNMC’s Facebook or follow UNMC’s Instagram account, or search #HumansOfUNMC on either platform.

Bruce Gordon, M.D., professor of pediatrics-hematology/oncology, shared this with “Humans of UNMC”:

“The majority of kids who get cancer get acute leukemia. And we are really, really good at treating and curing acute leukemia. So if you consider the situation of a mother who has just been told the worst thing that can possibly happen in their life, their kid has cancer, and you’re able to walk in that room and tell them, ‘If we do this right, your kid has a 90 percent chance of growing up, being happy, finishing high school, dating somebody you don’t want them to date, going off to college, and having kids of their own.’ That’s a wonderful thing to be able to tell them when they are so scared. So I submit, you tell me a better job? Obviously that’s the positive side, and there are down sides. But for the little kids, they don’t know that anything’s wrong. All they know is their mom took them away from their toys, they have to come to a place where frankly someone is going to approach them with a needle, and it’s scary. So my job is to make it less scary and make it fun. Coming to see the doctor is a scary experience, but it’s not so much a scary experience if your doctor is wearing a chicken hat.” #HumansOfUNMC #IamUNMC