15th February: International Childhood Cancer Day

For those who experience it, cancer is a difficult situation.
 
But has it ever crossed our minds that also children hide behind these percentages? Children, who by definition have a fragile psyche and are not aware of many things in life, are dealing with this painful experience.
 
According to the World Health Organization, with regard to child cancer, approximately 250.000 children all around the world contract cancer every year, of which only a percentage of 20% has access to appropriate medical care. These numbers confirm that things could not get any worse.
 
The majority of people may not be able to conceptualize it, but child cancer exists and the percentages are increasing dramatically. What impact does such a situation have on the life of a child? Children, who don’t have many experiences, don’t know many things about life and as they are starting to discover it little by little, they are faced with this daily struggle for survival.
 
How does the child understand what they are going through? Certainly, they are not aware of what is actually happening to their health, since they don’t know fundamental things about themselves and the society they live in. However, they live in the world with a sense of carefree playfulness. How does this contradicting feeling clash with the pain and the reality of cancer. How is a child’s soul ready to endure such pain?
 
Family. It is the basic foundation of a person’s life. Hence, of a child as well, since after their birth, the only ones that they definitely have by their side are their parents, their people, their relatives, the people who really care about them. Consequently, we can understand that their people put up their own fight, so that the child can deal with this issue in the least painful way possible. So the parents’ psychology is a catalyst for the child’s reaction when the latter finds out that they have this disease.
 
Its cure is no easy matter for a child. They will probably need psychological support in this vicious circle of challenges, which is completely normal. As I mentioned before, parents play an important role in the way the situation progresses. How will they deal with it? What attitude will they have towards the child? Which elements of their character will help in the attainment of the cure?
 
As every person should, children deal with cancer with a lot more love and care. Every day, with their wide smile, they should try to overcome it with as little pain as possible. This carefree attitude and love and will to live should be the driving force that will lead them out of this black and difficult path.
 
The most difficult thing they will have to face, apart from pain, is the entirely unknown for them situation, as they don’t even know what this is or what happens in such cases. For this reason, parents could find a solution, so that the child feels better. Maybe they can make up a game so that the child doesn’t think that this is something so bad for their health.
 
The 15th February was established as the World Day against Child Cancer. In a society that knows that the previous day is the excessively commercialized Valentine’s Day, let us realize that this day is much more important and let it be more well-known to the public. Not only as a day but as a day to raise awareness and learn about this difficult path that can present itself in a child’s life.
 

Translation: Asimenia Chliara

Review: Niki Saridaki

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