Paper published in the ICCCPO Newsletter in 1997. 

The Latvian association of parents of children with cancer was established in 1995. It has grown from 8 to 30 members. The organization meets lot of difficulties.

The situation in our country is very hard. The children have to pay for the stay in the hospital almost all their pension (sick children's pension, that is 21 LS = 42 US$). Parents are no longer allowed to sleep in the hospital as before. So children get nervous, mothers cry and doctors have to pay penalty money (100 US$) for each mother who stays with her child. 
There are not enough doctors and nurses. One of the goals of our association is to arrange a special ward for children with cancer. 

We do not have the drugs for all children. Only children with a low risk ALL can get chemotherappy. Almost all children die; only those who consulted a foreign specialist survived. Nevertheless parents do think that the doctors administrate the right drugs to their children; going elsewhere for treatment is not recommended. Oncology departments do not have drugs like antibiotics, anti-emetica, and chemo. 

Our doctors need to be trained abroad, but most of them do not speak English or any other foreign language. Their training could be in an Eastern European country. When specialists from other countries visit the hospital in Riga I am their interpreter. In May 1995 we were able to send three doctors, three nurses and three parents to the international conference in Minsk, but that was only once.

In May 1996 I myself was able, thanks to the Danish parents association, to come to the ICCCPO General Assembly in Århus, Denmark.

There are three support groups in the different towns of Latvia. We try to support the hospitals too. We collect second hand toys, books, video's, audiocassettes, televisions, shoes, clothes, etc. to give to the families and the hospitals.

Very soon we want to start our own newsletter to give the parents free every three months. We need money for that project. We would like to know if there are any international foundations that support these kind of initiatives.

Public relations is an important issue: we often write to the press, speak regularly on the radio about the problems: through that way we found 160 blood donors, collected money etc.

The Chemo-Kasper book and some other books for children and parents were translated into Latvian and we are now looking for the resources to have them printed. 

In the hospitals we organize concerts for the children, puppet performances and clowns every month. 

Every now and then we invite school children (via the school board) to the hospital. They bring small gifts. 

Is is very hard to raise enough funds. It is an activity that takes a lot of time, and we are already working all so hard to help the children and the parents. Anyway, we organized this summer three charity concerts, in Nereta, in Vilyaka and in Riga. 

Despite all the difficulties we have been able to raise 18926 US$ in the uear 1995. 7400 US$ was given to the State Children Clinical Hospital for repair and utensils. For instance, the operation room of the oncology department was repaired. SID Trade, a Danish firm, donated half of the equipment, but there is still need for surgical and anaesthesic equipment. 
In the hospitals there are no social workers, but this summer we managed to pay the salary for one social worker for the hematology department.

3940 US$ was donated to the families of children with cancer (consultations, drugs etc.) and 2432 US$ were the expenses of our organization.

Now we also cooperate with many non-governmental organizations, like Save the Children, NGO Centre in Riga, CARD, Morning Star above Bethlehem etc. These organizations help us with food, clothing and performances. Each week they bring to the hospitals mineral water, juices, toys, books and drugs. We are very happy with their support. Together with these organizations we try to make the government raise the sick children's pension and to lower the hospital fees. The European Charter of Ronald McDonalds Charities will discuss our problems but we need more recommendations to move ahead.

Any support from parents groups abroad would be very welcome!