Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met with young people from the stop-cancer community on Thursday, to mark the first awareness week for young cancer patients.Rivlin told the young people "every patient, everyone undergoing treatment, is an entire world, dealing the challenges of young families, of careers interrupted just as they are beginning, of a relationships that undergo crisis. Your project, Stop-Cancer, is the first to address the unique challenges faced by young cancer patients.”The awareness week is an initiative of the Tal Center’s Stop-Cancer youth group, with the aim of drawing attention to the unique needs and rights of the younger cancer patients in Israel.
"Throughout the world, awareness week for young cancer patients has been marked for years. There is a reason for this. They have unique needs and challenges that need to be recognized and addressed. Cancer is the number one cause of death among these young people,” Shira Kuperman, director of the Tal Center and the Stop-Cancer project said.Kuperman explained that the initiative is not just designed to highlight the detrimental effects cancer has an ones health “even after they have survived, their lives get stuck, just as they are beginning, and they find it difficult to return to the cycle of life, she said. “They face struggles in every area of life… We demand that research be conducted to diagnose the problems and to focus resources on appropriate treatment and medical support, as well as complementary services in the fields of welfare, employment and housing."The young survivors shared the implications of the disease on life at such an early age. Some spoke of the difficulty of coping with the disease, of raising young children and the of need for accessible information for young women who had already had children. They also talked about professional difficulties and careers that were interrupted.Concluding his remarks, the president said, "First of all, I wish you all full health in all its aspects – physical, creative and mental. I had never been aware of the severe consequences of the disease on younger people and I thank you for the knowledge you shared with me. I have no doubt that every doctor and hospital director should know the things you shared with me today. "Rivlin to cancer community: 'every doctor should know the things you shared'
"I had never been aware of the severe consequences of the disease on younger people," President Rivlin said.
