Photos/captions by Janet Jarman Text by Amy Clark

In 1991, Ela Pomaska met with Warsaw's mayor to outline plans to establish a foundation that would provide a range of integrated services, including psychological support and accommodation, to children with cancer and their parents. After 20 minutes' consideration, city officials signed over a dilapidated building (below) for the establishment of the Children's Cancer Relief Foundation, the first of its kind in Poland.

"We opened our doors before we even started renovation," Pomaska recalls. "In many rooms there was no heat and no running water." Nonetheless, families adopted the Center as a surrogate home, crowding into sleeping bags in rooms lined by space heaters.

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