Life in the Ukraine has been completely disrupted by the Russian invasion. When you consider what that disruption looks like for the millions who call the country home, it can be heartbreaking.
It is particularly difficult to see children with their families shuttling around to find safe spaces, hiding in basements, and having childhood as they knew it on an indefinite pause. It's even harder when you think of kids who were in hospitals battling illnesses when the violence began. These kids have no option but to take life day by day, continuing to battle on new and terrifying levels.
As parents stick by their kids' sides, they are forced to step in when there's no one else. For some, that means being the doctor. For others, that means being a donor.
"These children suffer more because they need to stay alive to fight with the cancer — and this fight cannot wait," Dr. Lesia Lysytsia told NBC in reporting from the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital, Ukraine's largest pediatric facility, in Kyiv.
These children are currently facing limited amounts of certain medications, as well as food and water.
There are also only a limited number of cancer treatments available. Some kids have been able to continue on with limited chemotherapy, but many are living without the lifesaving treatments they so desperately need.
Parents are trying to do what they can for their children. Limited blood supplies at Kyiv Regional Oncology Center have led some parents to transfuse their own blood to their kids as their blood counts plummet. The only other option for many of these families is evacuating, which can be risky depending on the child's condition.
"Patients and their parents ask me if it's safe, and I say, 'I don’t know,'" Dr. Lysytsia noted.
"I don't even know if it's safe to go outside. It's possible they go out near the hospital and they'll be attacked."
Doctors are also working with families to evacuate these sick children to safety. They are working to transport sick children to areas that are more stable and have better quantities of supplies. For the sickest children, this can be a temporary holdover until they can get more-encompassing care in Poland, but tensions at the border make the timeline for those transitions uncertain.
Tabletochki and Global Giving are two organizations that are stepping up to support sick children in the Ukraine. As this crisis continues, it's important to support organizations that are making the most difference on the ground, and certainly these children need the donations and support.
