Cancer continues to affect us

SEPTEMBER is one month in the day for Papua New Guinea that comes with celebrations marking the achievements this country has achieved since 1975.
This month also is important in the health calendar being the Childhood Cancer Awareness month.
It is a month to shine the light on the realities of childhood cancer, emphasise the importance of life-saving research, and join together to make a difference for children diagnosed with cancer.
Childhood cancer is a term used to describe cancers that occur between birth and 15 years of age.
Childhood cancers are very rare and may differ from adult cancers in the way they grow and spread, how they are treated, and how they respond to treatment.
The diagnosis of cancer in a child or teenager can be a devastating blow to parents and other family members who love the child.
Cancer creates an instant crisis in the family.
Cancer knows no boundaries and does not select who to attack and can bring one down very fast when it attacks.
In PNG, as a killer, cancer has reached an unacceptable level that needs urgent addressing.
Worse still, most times cases presented at the clinics are in the advanced stages and there is nothing much they can do.
Port Moresby General Hospital general paediatric surgeon Dr Jack Mulu says many children with cancer are diagnosed at the late stage of the disease hence not much could be done to help them.
While paediatric cancer is not one of PNG’s leading causes of hospital admission, it is becoming increasingly common.
Young patients with chronic conditions such as cancer require long-term care and support.
The sad reality is that cancer mortality rates are not accurate because the majority of PNG’s cancer patients are discharged to die at home.
The situation is urgent, incidence rates are rising, and cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease for children.
As Dr Mulu says: “Unlike overseas where children are diagnosed with cancer early, in our setting, they come at the late stage.”
Only those who have lost a loved one to cancer know that PNG is a long way away from providing effective and efficient treatment for cancer patients in the country.
Hospitals are critically ill-equipped and under-resourced, which severely affects their capabilities to provide quality healthcare.
Childhood cancer treatments can be aggressive.
While we talk about equipment, families who have taken their loved ones with cancer overseas will agree on the importance of palliative care, after receiving treatment.
Palliative care is the treatment to relieve symptoms caused by cancer and focuses on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of the disease with a goal to improve quality of life for both the patients and the families.
Palliative care is provided by a specially-trained team of doctors, nurses and other specialists who work together with a patient’s other doctors to provide an extra layer of support.
Life can be very unfair but that is reality here in PNG and no, it’s not a bad dream.
We all have dreams of the person we want to become or that of our children and what we want them to achieve in life.
Unless, the Government work with the Health Department and improve on the treatment for cancer in the country, the dreams of not only children but adults as well will continue to be interrupted and shattered by a cancer diagnosis.