Akanimo Foundation celebrates International Childhood Cancer Day

A non-governmental organisation, Akanimo Foundation, on Wednesday celebrated the International Childhood Cancer Day with a roadshow awareness campaign.

Speaking at the programme, Executive secretary and co-founder, Akanimo Cancer Foundation, Barrister Idara Sunday Ekanem, said International Childhood Cancer Day is held every February 15 all over the world, adding that there is a huge need for the acknowledgement of the reality.

Ekanem said the country needs medical research in finding lasting solution to cancer, just as she called on parents to take every complain of their children seriously by taking them to the hospital for proper check-up

She said: “It should be known that cancer is a disease, it can be treated and it can be cured, especially in children because if people do not even believe it is a disease, how will they show up for treatment? Every child deserves a chance at living life at its fullest.

“Our aim is to reach every mother, father and child and to let them know that sometimes our body cells can get out of whack, they don’t grow the way they are supposed to and they cause problems for us. It happens to adults and it happens to children too.”

Also, the Cancer Awareness Advocate and Program Coordinator, Akanimo Cancer Foundation, Emuoghoke Emonena-Solotan, charged the Federal Government to create policies that would make cancer treatment for children cheaper and easily accessible.

Emuoghoke said: “Akanimo Cancer Foundation was borne out of a sad incident. We had a 12 year-old boy, who was diagnosed with a very rare type of cancer when he turned 10 years. Unfortunately we lost him at the age of 12. He was a very vibrant boy.

He was a swimmer, pianist, footballer; he had a lot of beautiful traits but we lost him to cancer.

“The foundation was established so that no other parent will go through what his parents went through and that no other child will go through what Akanimo went through or die as a result of Childhood cancer.

“A lot of people have the wrong idea that cancer only happens to adults but it happens to children also. We need a lot of medical research to be done.

We need government policies that will make cancer treatment for children cheaper and easily accessible; we need government policies that will create more awareness on the fact that childhood cancer actually exists.

“We have a lot of children dying daily as a result of childhood cancer, so that is why we are out today on this walk to inform people in commemoration of the International Childhood Cancer Day, so that people will be more aware, information is power.

“When you know what to look out for, anybody who has cancer that is detected early and also gets treatment early, there is a greater chance for survival. Unfortunately, some people detect early but run back home saying God forbid, and run to their spiritual leaders and those ones give them alternative care which will not treat the true cause of the disease. We don’t want this to happen and that is why we are out today to let people know the importance of check up,” she said.

In their separate remarks, the volunteers, Uduak Andrew-Bassey and Dr Samuel Oyeleke said it is very necessary to let people know that childhood cancer can be cured if is detected early.