No modern war has been fought on the territory of a country with nuclear power facilities.
Saving Ukraine’s cancer patients
The images from Ukraine are beyond endurance. There is nothing to say about the ethics of this conflict. A fascist autocrat who leads a confederacy of kleptocrats decides to invade a neighboring state under a KGB-honed delusion that has been out of date since the 1990s so that his nation will be “stronger” by reattaching itself to a the blasted remains of a cultural treasure.
It was awe-inspiring to see how quickly the world’s science came together to address the COVID-19 pandemic—and much was learned. Academic institutions, big pharma, government, and foundations stepped up to do everything possible in an unprecedented way. Two years later, the results are evident as life is returning to normal.
In last week’s issue of The Cancer Letter, I discussed potential nuclear dangers resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (The Cancer Letter, Feb. 25, 2022). Unfortunately, several events I predicted might happen have occurred.
Ukraine has a special place in my heart, in my career, and in my life. A Ukrainian breast cancer project first introduced me to the field of global oncology, along with experience of seeing first-hand the challenges (and rewards) of providing cancer care and conducting cancer research in a setting of constrained resources. From my...
As the war rages around them, Ukraine’s oncologists are scrambling to get cancer patients the treatment they need.
Ukrainian communities across the United States are sending essential medical and humanitarian supplies to Ukraine via organizations, including the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America, said Solomiya Grushchak, a member of UMANA.
On March 2, a bus filled with Ukrainian children was getting ready to leave Odesa for the border of Moldova, Ukraine’s closest neighbor.
Oleksandr Stakhovskyi, a urologist and oncologic surgeon at Ukraine’s National Cancer Institute, is staying in Kyiv to treat cancer patients as the Russian invasion continues.
Nataliia Verovkina, a medical oncologist and research fellow at the National Cancer Institute of Ukraine, is now in the town of Vinnytsia, having travelled there from Kyiv to get her son away from the war zone.
In 1968, my country went to war. As Soviet tanks rolled toward Prague, newspapers described the invasion of Czechoslovakia as an act of “friendship.”
As we enter week three of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, events continue to spiral out of control.
As a global cancer society, ASCO represents oncology professionals in Ukraine and its neighboring countries, including Poland, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, and Hungary.
The war in Ukraine is trapping cancer patients in their homes and forcing doctors to provide treatments in bomb shelters. Those patients who make it across the borders to nearby countries show up without medical records—or with records that need to be translated.
The following list of resources is intended for clinicians, health professionals, patient advocates, and those aiding in the humanitarian effort.
All scheduled cancer care across Ukraine has been stopped as more than 60 hospitals have been badly damaged in the course of Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian oncologists say.
After ferrying her son to safety across the Hungarian border, Nataliia Verovkina has returned to Kyiv to resume treating cancer patients.
With the Russian invasion stalled and with a forceful counter-attack by Ukrainian armed forces, many observers caution that the Kremlin might be considering a show of force much as the U.S. did in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (The Cancer Letter, Feb. 25, March 4, March 11, 2022).
Chemotherapy at Ukraine’s National Cancer Institute in Kyiv no longer has to be administered in underground bomb shelters.
On March 7, or 11 days into Russia invasion, Mike Morrissey, chief executive of the European Cancer Organisation, approached the society’s board to inquire as to whether they should convene a special network for Ukraine.
More than 850 children with cancer have been evacuated or are in the process of evacuation from Ukraine, 45 days after a collaboration of international organizations began transporting pediatric cancer patients out of the country.
Ukrainian refugees and displaced persons with cancer are fighting a double war for survival—which is why aid networks and providers must prioritize psychosocial oncology, said Csaba Dégi, executive secretary of the International Psycho-Oncology Society.
A care hotline and resource hub for Ukrainian cancer patients established by the American Cancer Society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center – Jefferson Health has recruited several hundred volunteers as the organizations work to develop a lasting infrastructure to support those displaced by the crisis.
Can you imagine, as a radiation oncologist, you have to shelter your patients in a Co-60 vault to protect them from missiles, provide them with water by melting snow, feed them, keep them warm by using a backup power generator, and evacuate them just two hours before the missile destroys the radiation oncology department?
The roof of the Radiation Therapy Department of the Mariupol Municipal Interdistrict Regional Oncologic Dispensary, the parts that aren’t caved in, looks like a sieve.
The Russian war against Ukraine continues with no end in sight.
The unprovoked war in Ukraine has raised increasing concerns of a nuclear escalation.
Oksana Leontyeva, an expert in hematologic malignancies, was killed in a Russian rocket attack as she was rushing through central Kyiv to take care of her patients at OKHMATDYT, the biggest children’s hospital in Ukraine.
Yuliia’s phone rings. She shows me the app warning of an imminent missile strike in her district in Ukraine, grateful that she does not need to respond—for the time being she is safe in the USA.
The year of 2022 was probably the most challenging and hard for Ukraine since the start of our independence. Our lives have changed significantly as we are fighting for the world’s freedom and democracy. In these circumstances, the Ukrainian healthcare system remained stable and doctors kept doing their job at hospitals around the country, including oncologists who did their best to treat patients in any way possible.
In 1991, Ukraine started to transform its healthcare system, and these changes continue to this day.
Russia’s invasion a year ago has exacerbated the problems that afflicted Ukraine’s health care system, creating a new threat to the lives of patients struggling with cancer.
Over the past year, dozens of Ukraine’s female oncologists, who—unlike draft-age men—aren’t restricted from leaving the country, have been receiving training in Western countries, including the United States.
Ukraine is experiencing a full-scale war that has been going on for more than a year. The resilience of the Ukrainian people, the balanced policy of the government led by the president of Ukraine, and the strong support of the world community inspire hope for victory and the country’s speedy recovery.
When air sirens sound over Kyiv, Ukraine, patients undergoing bone marrow transplants at Ohmatdyt National Children’s Hospital don’t have the option of going to the bomb shelter.
Photo credit: Oleksiy Samsonov; Kyiv, March 2022In Ukraine, a country of around 44 million people, over 1.3 million individuals currently live with cancer.
