Mangalore: Conquering Leukemia - the Bane of Children
by Divvy Kant Upadhyay
Apri 12, 2007
The Childhood Cancer International Awareness Day, held in many parts of the world last week, was perhaps overlooked at many places across our country.
Cancer accounts for the major cause of death in Indian children, next only to infection and malnutrition. Leukemia is the most common cancer in children.
For the esteemed daijiworld readers, this story is an attempt to spread awareness, to make everyone understand Leukemia in simple words and to give the readers a chance to provide a helping hand to innocent little children fighting cancer-especially because majority of kinds of childhood cancer today are curable.
What's is Leukemia ?
Leuk-means white and emia-means blood. The word indicates the unexpected, unwarranted and uncontrollable increase in the number of white blood cells in the blood or the bone marrow(the site where blood cells are formed).In simple words the cells simply forget to die and keep on increasing in number by multiplying.
These immature cells which are useless to us, crowd up in the marrow and take up the space actually meant for very crucial and useful normal stem cells. Eventually this abnormal proliferation spills into blood and thus there occurs a scarcity of cells that are needed for normal functioning and development of all other body organs.
Normal cells in the marrow could be considered a collection of children in society. Some grow up normally to become doctors, lawyers, engineers, police officers- all of them perform a special specific role in their lives for normal functioning of the society. But some rotten eggs go on to become goons or even terrorists and cause disharmony in society just like those abnormal cells in the marrow or blood. Not only do they cause trouble, they also inhibit the growth of essential normal cells.
What's the cause?...Who to blame?
The cause of leukemia is unknown in majority of patients. Ongoing research hasn't isolated any specific culprit, but it is globally accepted that the drastic and hazardous change of our surrounding environments leads to majority of cancers. It is essential for you and me to realize that it is perhaps our very own negligent deterioration of the environment that is causing fatal cancers in the true wealth of any nation-its children. But, hold on….there is a ray of hope as always-most childhood cancers are now curable-but there's a cliché attached-they have to be diagnosed early, well in time!
'Aditya' - a miracle story - thanks to the undying faith of the doctors and assistance of philanthropists -
Recently in the KMC hospital of the city, Aditya Illur, a 7-year-old child suffering from acute leukemia (blood cancer), miraculously survived an astonishing 97 days in the ICU on ventilator. He was shifted to the ICU in October last year after he developed complications of the respiratory system. Contrary to expectations over the days and weeks that followed, Aditya's health showed no improvement and kept developing complications.
But with doctors not losing all their hope keeping faith and by God's graciousness, Aditya was freed from the ventilator after 97 days. He is now back at home after a two week extended stay at the ward after he came out of the ICU.
What's the present-day status of childhood blood cancer?
Early suspicious signs like long-standing and unexplained pallor (paleness), bleeding, fever or infection requires a checkup by your family doctor who can refer the case to a higher centre if needed.
Improvements in diagnostic modalities, rational use of drugs under combination therapy and improved supportive care have made majority of pediatric cancers curable. Majority of leukemia in children are eminently curable up to 80%.
One of the many challenges is the high cost of drugs and their several side effects, to encounter which, supportive therapy is required. The cost of treatment can sometimes run up to in Lakhs.
DK and Udipi districts have good literacy rates and thus there is very good rate of early detection and treatment. But children with cancer are still there. One place where there is a specialized Paediatric Unit to treat such children is at Kasturba Medical College Hospital, Attavar in Mangalore. Specially trained doctors provide all therapies including radiotherapy, surgery, etc under one roof.
To overcome the financial obstacle and help the poor patients, they have a specially dedicated and well audited Childrens' Cancer Emergency Fund (CCEF) which has successfully catered to many needy children thanks to several philanthropists who made donations to the fund.
How YOU can play a role….
Readers who are interested to know how they can help play a role in giving a new life to a suffering child could contact the unit at KMC Hospital Attavar on ( + 91 824) 2445858 or (+ 91) 9845185354.
Daijiworld's honest efforts to spread awareness and bring to light the plight of needy children continues.
Divvy Kant Upadhyay - Archives: