Reach For A Dream prescribe hope to child cancer patients
MELROSE ARCH – Few children were diagnosed early or not at all...
Reach For A Dream recently held a breakfast session to highlight the scourge of cancer in children.
The gathering was held on 7 August at the African Pride Melrose Arch Hotel in Melrose Arch to mark the annual Women’s Day commemoration.
Professor Janet Poole, a renowned paediatric oncologist at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and the Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre, addressed the gathering.
Poole said even with the advances made in the treatment of childhood cancer, some children lose the battle.
The professor said her passion is for all children to develop to their full potential.
“It is sad, but with every child diagnosed and treated – whether they survive or not – it’s a lesson learnt to take forward and do better with the next child,” Poole said.
She noted that in South Africa, too few children were diagnosed early – or not at all – and blamed the referral pathways from primary healthcare. “They’re often inadequate and cumbersome, and there are resource constraints in State facilities.
“I would like to see more children diagnosed at earlier stages so that fewer resources and less treatment is needed, and the risk of long-term complications is reduced.
“I would like to see every child with cancer being afforded the opportunity to be treated properly and to be able to live a normal life.”
Poole said there was evidence that the best place for a child with cancer to be treated is in a paediatric oncology unit by professionals.
Doctor Craig Nossel, board member of the Reach For A Dream Foundation, said Reach For A Dream had a role to play in the overall treatment of children with cancer.
“We are all a call or an email away from helping to fulfill a child’s dream, and we would like to call on doctors to refer children to Reach for A Dream so that their dreams can be fulfilled too,” Nossel said.
Details: www.reachforadream.org.za
Edited by Stacey Woensdregt
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