Acute lymphoblastic leukemia❗Support Lena's fight❗

Diagnosis

The first worrying signs appeared at the beginning of September. Weakness, headaches, and increasing fatigue, becoming more and more noticeable with each passing day, led step by step through a series of tests to a diagnosis that stopped time. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Nine-year-old Lena was suddenly transported from her safe world to the reality of a hospital, a strange and incomprehensible space where everything is new, difficult, and filled with fear. It is a world that has nothing to do with the child's previous experience, and where fear and uncertainty become part of everyday life.

Hospital daily life

At the Provincial Specialist Children's Hospital in Olsztyn, it was necessary to implant a central catheter and begin intensive chemotherapy treatment according to the AIEOP BFM program. These procedures require enormous endurance, especially for a child who is just beginning to understand what illness is.

Lena has already completed the first stage of therapy. However, she still has two more intensive stages of treatment ahead of her, as well as long-term maintenance chemotherapy. The entire process will take at least two years. From a child's perspective, this seems like an endless amount of time.

When a child is afraid

Lena had to quickly come to terms with the idea that her body was fragile and that life does not always go according to plan. This experience is particularly difficult for a nine-year-old child who is beginning to understand the concepts of illness, danger, and mortality, even though it is every parent's natural desire to protect their child from such fears for as long as possible.

Hospital days and nights, tests and treatments bring questions that are difficult to answer, and fear becomes a silent companion in everyday life.

Treatment far from home

Lena's home is located in Orzysz, over a hundred kilometers from Olsztyn. This distance has become another burden that the whole family has had to bear. The need to be constantly present with their daughter has forced them to make difficult decisions, including professional ones. Lena's mother spends every moment with her in the hospital, which makes it impossible for her to work. The entire burden of supporting the family rests on the father, who also wants to be as close as possible to his sick child.

Lena's two younger sisters are waiting for her return home . They miss her terribly, and contact is difficult not only because of the distance, but also because of the necessary isolation associated with her treatment, which prevents even her closest relatives from visiting her.

Long-term treatment, regular commuting between Orzysz and Olsztyn, and the fact that the mother is unable to work mean that the family's financial situation is becoming increasingly difficult.

Any form of support will be a real relief for them and a source of hope that after this long and demanding journey, it is possible to return to a more peaceful life. Now we must go through this time, step by step, without being alone in it.