Iliya is silent. He’s sitting at the table and has a small, black Matchbox car with him, which he’s driving back and forth, a bit bored. He looks at his mom sitting across from him, then the car disappears in his hand. Even though his face disappears almost completely behind the FFP-2 mask, his look says very clearly: Do I really have to sit here for so long?
The seven-year-old has several enlarged lymph nodes, so-called lymphomas, in his stomach: malignant tumors. He is being treated in the oncological children’s clinic of the Munich Clinic Schwabing. He was actually considered cured, but then the cancer returned at the end of 2021 – and war broke out in Ukraine.
He was able to do a few therapies at home in Dnipro, 400 kilometers southeast of Kyiv. The last treatment there was on February 28th. Then the doctors in Ukraine advised the family to flee. According to Iliya’s mother Liliya Shcher, the doctors “didn’t see any possibility of continuing treatment during this time”.
Julia Hauer is chief physician at the Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. She and her team are committed to ensuring that families with children with cancer are well cared for.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
Iliya’s findings and the findings of many other children are sent to the hospitals through various foundations in Ukraine, Poland and the EU. So that the children can be “sensibly distributed to the oncological centers in the cities,” explains Julia Hauer, chief physician at the center for pediatric and adolescent medicine. And so that every child is treated well according to the diagnosis. Liliya Shcher, 30, left on March 1st. Without her husband, without her father. First by train to Lviv, then by bus via a “green corridor” to Poland and finally to Germany.
In the oncological center of the children’s clinic in Schwabing, Iliya is thoroughly examined and treated as an in-patient for two weeks. The therapies in Ukraine and Germany are “very similar,” says Hauer. If there are small differences, it is in the dosage or combination of drugs.
The seven-year-old gets chemotherapy blocks. One week of treatment, two to three weeks off. Iliya is in this “break time” right now. Not an easy time, because, for example, because the number of his white blood cells is currently very low due to the therapy, he is “extremely susceptible to infections”. A complete cancer therapy takes six months to three quarters of a year.
Iliya loves Matchbox cars and Lego: he finds enough material in the playroom.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
Around 70 children who are newly diagnosed with cancer are treated at the Schwabing Children’s Hospital every year. Seven children from Ukraine are currently receiving oncological care. Hauer says it was known early on that many children with cancer would come from the war zone.
You have adapted well to it. And above all trying to create a network: the foundation of the Munich-Schwabing children’s clinic, private help, church structures, the company’s own doctors and nurses – everyone had helped with great commitment and, above all, looked for suitable accommodation. Because it is important for the families and for good treatment, says the head doctor, that they can live “relatively close to the clinic”. The child only needs to get a fever, so it is important to be able to “come to us” quickly.
Iliya is boring. But Julia Hauer drew him a winding road with a pen on two sheets of paper. With traffic lights, zebra crossings and even parking lots. The toy car drives down this street umpteen times. Iliya is still silent. “Since the war, since fleeing, he’s been very withdrawn,” says the mother. But now that they are here and have a place to stay, he has “settled down” and is starting to recover.
Iliya can’t sit on the chair anymore. He rushes out to his younger sister. To play. She knows her brother is sick. But both children do not know exactly what he has. The boy also does not know the extent of the disease. “We explained that there is an evil bug in his body that is not afraid of a knife,” says Liliya Shcher. And when the cancer came back, her son just said that the beetle just had to go. He asks little, he accepts that he needs treatment, says the 30-year-old. Very calm, very collected.
“The children have a good sense of how they are really doing,” says chief physician Hauer. They often wanted to protect their parents with their strong attitude. “But everything that the children are currently asking us, we doctors also answer.” In contrast to the adults, the children would live in the “here and now”. If the “now” is good, then everything is good. Iliya is doing well clinically right now.
It works somehow, says the mother. Her husband is still in Ukraine
The everyday life of the small family is difficult. All do not understand the language. But they are outside a lot, on the playgrounds, in the English Garden. Luckily someone helped her with the many registration formalities, says her mother. It works somehow. She can’t really recover. “My husband stayed at home,” she says slowly. Tears run down the cheek under the mask.
Head physician Hauer is aware of how great the challenges are for the parents. There is concern for the child, the fear of whether they can stay here. We also try to offer psychological support. But Hauer is clear that that’s not all. Of course, she says, the families should also experience “social integration.” This goes beyond medical care, but is necessary. Hauer speaks of an “interface” that can still be expanded. In the meantime, among other things, an aid fund for the Ukraine has been set up by the German Cancer Aid. 2.5 million euros are available. The money will be used to support families financially. “That’s good, because the families have to be able to live here,” says Hauer.
Iliya smiles. The first time. He’s been given Easter eggs and quickly hides them in his orange sweater, which has a zippered pocket. “He’s afraid his sister will get them,” says Liliya Shcher. And she smiles too. Iliya will probably be completely healthy again. “His chances of recovery,” says Julia Hauer, “are good.”