To make life easier for children living with cancer, the International Association of Lions Club District 404BI Lagos has called on government, corporate organisations and well-meaning Nigerians to join the campaign in fighting childhood cancer in Nigeria.
Its new District Governor, Mrs Kema Ashibuogwu, made the call at a parley held yesterday in Lagos to create awareness of the disease in the country.
According to Ashibuogwu, the most common types of cancer are leukaemia, followed by brain and other Central Nervous System (CNS) tumors, lymphomas, neuroblastoma, kidney tumors, and malignant bone tumors.
Ashibuogwu said Lions Club was passionate about providing the needed support for children living with cancer and was working with both local and international partners to achieve the objective.
She said: ‘’We need to create awareness on childhood cancer because many children are dying today due to ignorance of the disease. Some people don’t even know that there are children battling cancer and if the children are diagnosed early, they have a higher survival rate.”
”Many parents can’t afford their treatment. Some even abandon their children because even when they come to the hospital, they have nowhere to stay when the child is on admission.
‘’You find then sleeping on the corridor of the wards or even car parks which can be very stressful and frustrating.”
She said the Lion Club was planning to build caregivers’ home at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, where the caregivers could stay for just N500 per night.
She also said the club, could also consider procuring a flow cytometre, a cancer detection machine, which cost about N64 million and was currently unavailable in hospitals across the country.