They are aged between 6 months and 18, mothers and a war against the disease to fight. All the fathers and many brothers left at home. So we proceed for the therapies
They are between 6 months and 18 years of age and have fled the bombs in their cities in hopes of being able to defeat their enemy, cancer. I’m 89 among infants, children and adolescents the young cancer patients who arrived in Italy from Ukraine in the last month. The mothers are very young, all very prepared and equipped with what is needed for the illness of their children – he says Franca Fagioli, Director of the Pediatric Oncohematology Department and Transplant Center of the Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital in Turin, a center that welcomed 21 patients fleeing the war -. They have the disks with the latest tests done, the clinical documentation. And very little else. Like many refugees, they arrive with a bare baggage, very little money, credit cards that don’t work. Often there is also a lack of necessities, but no medical records. Those are there.
They have tumors typical of children
In 18 Italian centers of the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (Aieop) which, between 24 February and 29 March 2022, 89 small patients (51 males and 38 females) with their mothers and case with very young brothers and sisters. The highest number arrived in Turin and then in Monza and at Bambin Ges in Rome, at the National Cancer Institute in Milan, at San Matteo in Pavia, in Verona, Brescia, at Gaslini in Genoa and at Meyer in Florence and others. in different cities. They have cancers typical of the pediatric age, either haematological (such as leukemia and lymphoma), both solid: brain, bone, kidney, nervous system tumors (neuroblastoma) and others. also on the basis of the pathology from which they suffer that it is established where to send them, the specializations and excellence of the various Italian hospitals are taken into account. Everyone needs one cultural mediation, someone to help translate because, of course, they speak Ukrainian, Russian and little else. To the aid of doctors and families there is technology, with various software for simultaneous translation, but they are good for the immediate. When thorough medical explanations are needed, doctors, mothers and children must clearly understand what is being said and decided.
Exams and therapies in the Italian protocols
As soon as they arrive, we immediately redo all the exams to study the neoplasm – explains Fagioli, who is also a member of the Scientific Committee of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation and of the board of directors of the Aieop Foundation (Fieop) -. In practice, within a few days, two or three at the most, we plan all the necessary tests that we need to be sure of the type of tumor present in each child, its stage and all the information necessary to establish the treatments. Then we proceed with the same therapies provided for Italian children following the standard guidelines in our country and internationally. The enrollment of small cancer patients in specific diagnosis and treatment protocols has been one of the pillars of success in pediatric oncohematology because they offer a standard approach and represent the best tool for international research – comments Fagioli -. thanks to the protocols if we were able to make important progress: 30 years ago only two children out of 10 survived a cancer diagnosis, today over 80% of them in our country recover (with peaks of 90% for leukemia and lymphoma, which are, moreover, among the most common pathologies in this age group). To support Aieop in the hard work to open new treatment protocols is the Veronesi Foundation, which in 2014 launched the Gold for Kids project born in support of pediatric oncology.
Heal and go home
We managed to get more than a dozen of them started and each involves numerous patients – he explains Monica Ramaioli, director of the Foundation -. Sometimes there are few children because cancer is rare and it is even more important to support research on pathologies to which no one pays attention. Our project was born to support medical treatment and research on childhood cancers and to promote correct scientific information. To improve both the survival and the quality of life of children and adolescents who get cancer. And if together with Italian children we can also help foreign ones, such as children fleeing the war, a great satisfaction.In addition to anti-cancer therapies, Ukrainian refugees need a home, economic and psychological support, to learn Italian and take school lessons. They have terrible stories, both children and young mothers are very tried, all alone – concludes Fagioli -. They left the men at home, with their parents and sometimes with other children. Every so often we enter the rooms and find them crying because the news of some death has arrived or because of the anxiety of interrupted communications with a war zone. They know they are lucky, but they want to go home. After finishing the therapies, sure. Returning to their life and their loved ones is the greatest desire. As for anyone who is forced to the hospital, after all.
April 3, 2022 (change April 3, 2022 | 19:14)
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