Ela Pomaska is changing the definition of cancer care for Polish children. When Pomaska's son was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1983, her life was transformed by the suffering she witnessed at a hospital in Warsaw Poland where he and other young cancer victims were treated.
Few resources were available at the time, especially in Poland, to address the myriad psychological and social needs of cancer patients. Rather than providing a nurturing environment for sick children, oncology centers were cold, barren institutions that offered few support programs to help children to cope with the traumas of treatment.
Pomaska's experience of her son's diagnosis, treatment, and recovery prompted her to launch the Children's Cancer Relief Foundation – the first organization of its kind in Poland. In dramatic contrast to the reluctance of many Poles to deal with the realities of the disease, the foundation addresses the range of non-medical needs of children with cancer, and the parents and other family members who support them, by providing a variety of integrated services.
