The war is merciless, a phrase that most of us repeat, and the Russian war on Ukraine is the best evidence, as this war did not have mercy on anyone, especially in the reports that appeared previously and revealed how the Russian bombing affected hospitals and medical care centers in Ukraine, which automatically affected patients, especially cancer patients. .
In a renovated hotel in Poland, waves of children and their families come to rest, and although they are among a wider wave of Ukrainian refugees, their suffering is much more profound, as they, too, are terminally ill with cancer.
Their families spend a few days at the Unicorn Marian Willemsky clinic in Pochinick before continuing to distant medical centers such as the United States for treatment for solid tumors or leukemias.
So far, more than 600 children and their families have passed through the clinic, including dozens bound for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, which is coordinating the evacuation efforts.
“War is a life and death issue, and so is cancer,” Mike Morrissey, president of the European Cancer Organization, was quoted as saying by the American Wall Street Journal.
The organization is involved in an international group of doctors, officials and advocates working to maintain cancer care within war-torn Ukraine, and their work includes outreach to cancer centers in Ukraine, as well as collecting information and coordinating care for refugees.
Much of the effort depends on the connections between individual health centers and the personal relationships between doctors, patients, friends and families. The situation often changes every hour.
After nearly two months of war, more than 4.6 million refugees have fled Ukraine, and millions more have been internally displaced. Among them, regarding 160,000 people were diagnosed with cancer in 2020 alone.
Inside Ukraine, they are fleeing the bad conditions caused by the war, but also the missiles that fall on health facilities.
The World Health Organization has verified more than 100 attacks on health care facilities, workers and ambulances in Ukraine since the fighting began.
Bogdan Maksimenko, a cancer surgeon at the National Cancer Institute in Kyiv, said he spends most of his time operating on war-wounded patients.
He said many cancer patients can’t make the trip to hospitals elsewhere in Europe, so they stay inside Ukraine while facing drug problems and running out.
About eight cancer centers operate in Ukraine, but are below their pre-war capacity, and most of them are located in the west of the country.
At the Lviv Regional Cancer Center, the largest in western Ukraine, outpatient consultations have tripled since the war began.
Coordinating the supply of cancer drugs is particularly complicated because of the range of chemotherapy drugs used to treat specific cancers, said Richard Sullivan, a member of the WHO’s emergency committee, who said, “You don’t actually coordinate a single disease. You coordinate hundreds of different diseases.”
Dr. Sullivan said tracking patients is also a challenge, especially adults.
Some men with cancer have gone to the front lines, and many have missed their treatment appointments.
For many refugees, cancer is probably not a top priority, or many may not know where to go.
Health workers are distributing flyers at border crossings, and some groups have set up hotlines and websites to help people find care.
Even for refugees who have sought and received treatment, treatment can be extremely disruptive.
The newspaper quoted Natalia, who is recovering from surgery to remove her ovaries, uterus and surrounding tissue following a large tumor, as her doctors came to her room and told her, “If you can walk, you must leave.”
She says she experienced complications likely from her rushed discharge a few days following her first round of treatment.
The absence of medical records was also among the biggest challenges.
Doctors reevaluated patients from scratch. And it was necessary to translate the records of some of them.
