When a child is diagnosed with cancer this represents a huge shock both for the child and his/her family, and it marks the beginning of a long journey and fight with the merciless disease. Every year about a dozen new cases are registered in Luxembourg, and in two thirds of the cases the form taken by the disease is leukaemia, lymphoma, or some tumour of the nervous system.
The consequences of the disease and of its treatment are many-fold: psychological, socio-economical, educational and familial. For the past 19 years the main objective of the Krribskrank Kanner Foundation has been to accompany these children and their families during this extremely difficult experience, and the support it offers covers multiple aspects of this new battle:
- The Foundation undertakes all the administrative procedures related to insurance, hospitalization, medical procedures, medication, transportation, etc.;
- It offers lodging to parents during the treatment periods spent by the children in specialized clinics;
- It organizes afterschool and holiday activities for the children and for their siblings, helping them with homework or engaging them in sports and games;
- And perhaps more important than anything: they are there when help is needed!