Long-lasting materialistic deficiency necessarily leads to moral and spiritual poverty that we face day by day on all levels and within all social structures. The fact is that the poor are not by any means of less intellectual abilities and capabilities than the rich are, but due to the difficult conditions they are forced to think solely about their personal problems, coping with the everyday effort to provide for basic existential needs. This is just one of the reasons explaining a rather slow speed of reaching solutions in this region, as opposed to other areas where the system functions spotlessly, where basic existence is not endangered and people are in the position to think in broader terms.

In the past 10-15 years, humanitarian organizations in the territory of Ex-Yugoslavia emerged as a response to the destruction and were trying to make the best of the bad situation. However, these organizations did not appear as a result of a highly developed social conscience or the feeling that one needs to provide mutual help and support. It is very hard to have higher goals in such conditions so that the engagement of a couple of persons, materially as poor as many others but with preserved intact moral standards and a social conscience, could rightly be rated as heroic.

ICCCPO was founded just in these times, while war-like operations took place on the grounds of Ex-Yugoslavia and the country and people suffered under the burden of an unprecedented rate of inflation and the refugees were priorities (as they still are nowadays). In such circumstances the first Childhood Cancer Parent Association was established in Serbia.

The set of circumstances forced us to target our aims just on the pooling of medication and on the provision of related support; topics, such as thinking about forms of social support, education, information, reconvalescent treatment of cured children and their families, as well as the provision of the care and support for the families who had lost their children were neglected due to the general situation and existing prevailing circumstances. Money was collected both for the necessary medication and for the burials and transport of the deceased to the families that did not have money for this.

Unfortunately, although the war is finished, unpleasant consequences of long-lasting character still exist and they are such, that people in general have developed a “not interested” attitude in reaction to words like “help” and ”humanity”.

For that very reason, it is hard to place the issue of childhood cancer at the top of the current events. Despite the fact that money is the major precondition to enabling maximal treatment possibilities, I believe that there are still things even more important: such as information and the education of both patients and their parents, as well as of the whole public area!

It is easier said than done, since we face obstacles which are hard to overcome:

- Just a few children know the truth about their disease.

-  Parents are ashamed and afraid of the disease.

- Many physicians (not all) place themselves in the role of Gods, thus not inclining towards the idea to have parents involved in the treatment although they are, due to the participation and attendance of many congresses, acquainted with the significance of the role and the importance of the Parents’ Organization.

- There is a prevailing attitude that places the Parents’ Organization in the role of a service intended to serve the needs of the hospital and its medical staff.

- Despite their poor economic resources, parents tend to give money to doctors and other medical staff, thus creating a kind of “warranty” that their child is to be offered better treatment and care: unfortunately, it this has become very widespread, almost an unavoidable practice.

This is just a part of the host of problems we face every day, problems which are not necessarily connected to the matter of money.

Frequent media appearances attracted the attention of the public, parents and patients. An important precondition to be fulfilled prior to media appearance is a certain standard of education. However, a bigger problem is that parents and their families are not ready to talk openly, in public, about their personal problems.

This needs a certain degree of valiance and courage since it is really hard to talk in public about one’s greatest pain. However, it proved to be very efficient to demonstrate to the public that this does not happen just to “the others”; quite the contrary, childhood cancer is a widespread disease. Following the NATO Alliance bombing session in 1999, an increased number of sick children has been registered on the territory of Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro . The bombs contained uranium. This is one of the issues we should engage in and present the truth and the facts to the public.

One of the noteworthy projects of ICCCPO is the organization of regional groups. Rating myself as fairly well-informed about the existing conditions in my country, I believe it is possible to form such an organization on our own grounds. The fact is that the first step is the hardest one, even much harder than I first thought. My attitude was that after the experience we passed through with our children with cancer, we have nothing to be afraid of, since the most severe possible circumstance for a parent is to have a child with a life- threatening disease so that this fear surpasses all the other fears. 

From that point of view, I addressed parents’ organizations from Ex-Yugoslav countries with an open heart, inviting them to establish communication so that we could overcome the numerous common problems we presently face.

Apart from the association “A Heart for Children with Cancer” in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Sarajevo, I received a rather cold reply from every organization, accompanied by the explanation that it was too EARLY for a step of that kind. In spite of my persistence and sincere wish to cooperate, I came to the conclusion that I am rather isolated in my hopes and attempts and that there are only a few people that have a social conscience and dare to go further, to bury the battle axes and turn toward progress, to offer their hands, thus doing their best to enable and provide the right to live for children with cancer. Sadly to say, the germs of hatred were spread and mistrust still triumphs over love, sincerity and faith.

 It is hard to overcome this, yet not impossible. Slowly it is happening, not as fast as we would like it to, but step by step, probably in a year, or two, or three… but I am strongly convinced people will re-unite and gather just as we in ICCCPO did, coming from different countries, various cultures, languages, economic conditions; all of us gathered with the same problems, aims and wishes defined in an effort to enable maximal treatment possibilities that are likely to have the highest cure rate for children with cancer.