When a child is diagnosed with cancer: how and where to get medical help
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The Great War brought a lot of trouble to Ukrainians. And for families with seriously ill children, this is a double trauma: what could be scarier than hearing a difficult diagnosis of your child during the war?
A comforting fact: 60% of children’s cancer is curable, and quality treatment can be obtained both in Ukraine and abroad. Gold September is the global childhood cancer awareness month. The “Zaporuka” charitable foundation joins the information campaign to tell Ukrainian families where they can get help if their child is diagnosed with cancer.
If your child is diagnosed with cancer, you need to start treatment right away. Next, it is prescribed to describe the algorithm of actions for parents who are confused and do not know what to do:
- To start – see your family doctor to receive an electronic referral for an appointment with a highly specialized doctor.
- Make an appointment. After receiving the e-referral, you should contact the health care facility that provides specialized care to make an appointment. You can do it online, over the phone, or in person.
- Come to the appointment at the specified time and date. You need to have an electronic referral, the child’s certificate and the parents’ passport with you.
- Think about accommodation in advance. Sometimes the consultation and examination can last more than one day, so take care of housing in advance. In Kyiv, you can contact the “Zaporuka” fund by phone at 044 361 5697. From November 1, 2023, the Dacha Center will operate, where families are provided with free housing for the period of treatment and examinations.
- If you feel the need for psychological supportyou can contact “Zaporuk” specialists on the hotline at the number: 0 800 400023. Consultations of psychologists are free.
Profile hospitals in Ukraine that provide treatment for children with oncology:
- National Cancer Institute of Ukraine (Kyiv);
- NDSL Okhmatdyt (Kyiv);
- Western Ukrainian Specialized Children’s Medical Center (Lviv).
Despite the fact that there is a war going on in Ukraine, now small patients can receive high-quality medical care
Yes, the full-scale invasion affected children’s oncology, but I suggest looking at the situation comprehensively. In the first weeks, hospitals were closed, medical personnel left for other cities, some went to the front. The doctors who remained in Ukraine carried their patients several times a day in their arms to the shelter – where they were treated under flashlights.
Families fled the war to safer cities or abroad, saving their extremely weakened sick children, exposing themselves to mortal danger. For these families, the war is a double trauma.
When the situation stabilized a little, it was this terrible war that contributed to the development of childhood cancer treatment in Ukraine
As a result of the war, almost the entire medical resource of children’s oncology was concentrated in several hospitals, the best in this field: in Okhmatdyt and the National Cancer Institute in Kyiv, as well as in the West Ukrainian Specialized Children’s Medical Center in Lviv.
In the first months of the war, Lviv became a medical hub where seriously ill children gathered from all over the country. And after the liberation of Kyiv region, patients began to arrive in the capital from occupied cities, from under shelling, and from regions where children’s oncology departments were closed.
Thus, support from philanthropists and international donors was concentrated in these centers, and attention from the state was also focused on these medical institutions. Thanks to this outside help and dedicated doctors, these hospitals not only continued to treat small patients, but became more powerful. Now these medical facilities are highly professional specialized centers with new modern equipment and great opportunities.
Despite the war, the medical system not only stood up, but also strengthened in some places. So today, children are successfully treated at home, in their own country. Families with children with cancer return to Ukraine. These are the families that we, together with colleagues from other foundations, evacuated abroad at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
They return for various reasons, but the key one is that everything their children need as patients is already provided here: chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, transplants, as well as psychological support. In addition, today patients are guaranteed the right to receive medicines free of charge, but on the condition that they are listed in the National List and registered in Ukraine.
I remember the times when the state covered only a tiny percentage of the drug needs in pediatric oncology. This problem is in the past. Among other reasons for the return of families with children with cancer – “it’s just easier to breathe at home, despite everything.” So say those who return.
Yes, children’s oncology has become more powerful in Ukraine, but not all types of therapy that patients may need are provided yet
It should be noted that there are certain types of therapy that are still unavailable in Ukraine. For example, proton and CAR-T cell therapies, some immunotherapies. In this case, Ukrainian families have the opportunity to receive free referrals for treatment abroad and to use evacuation flights.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, almost 4,000 Ukrainians have gone abroad for treatment or rehabilitation under the state program. The algorithm for carrying out medical evacuation is prescribed by the Ministry of Health – every Ukrainian has the right to use it. How does one have the right to choose where to be treated: at home or abroad, if there are concerns about safety.
When the state medical institution cannot meet the needs of a seriously ill child, charitable foundations are involved – families are not left alone with their problem
As I mentioned above, small oncology patients are guaranteed the right to receive medicines free of charge if they are on the National List and registered in Ukraine. In cases where a child needs rare medicines or, for example, isotopes used in MIBG therapy (treatment with doses of radioactive iodine), but not covered by the state, charitable funds are involved. IN
our country now has enough powerful charitable foundations that take care of children with cancer. The “Zaporuka” charitable foundation is one of them. For 15 years, we have been “picking up” and conducting complex cases – from the provision of medicines and medical consumables, psychological support, physical rehabilitation to the possibility of free family accommodation for the period of the child’s treatment in another city.
Unfortunately, many families have nowhere to return to after treatment — cities are occupied or destroyed, their homes destroyed. During the war, the housing problem worsens. Understanding this, last year with the support of Italian partners (Soleterre Onlus, Rosa Pristina), we as the “Zaporuka” foundation reconstructed an old hostel in the village of Nesluhiv, Novoyarychiv community, Lviv region. The old dormitory has been transformed into a cozy modern house with 30 apartments with separate kitchen and bathroom. This is just one example of how we are responding to this problem.
In addition, at the end of October this year, we will open a newly built “Dacha” center in Kyiv – a home away from home for families with children with cancer who are undergoing treatment in Kyiv.
“Dacha” is designed for the simultaneous accommodation of 15 families who are treating a child in Okhmatdyt or the National Cancer Institute. Children with cancer need special living conditions, psychological and physiological rehabilitation. But when a child gets sick, the whole family gets sick.
We understand this and create conditions for the whole family to overcome this challenge with dignity. Although we understand that one such center is not enough, so we do not stop there – we continue to strengthen Ukrainian medicine even more so that Ukrainians stay in the country, and those who left return.
Natalia Onipko, the founder and president of the “Zaporuka” charitable foundation, specially for UP. Life
Publications in the “View” section are not editorial articles and reflect exclusively the author’s point of view.
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