A pediatric oncologist said yesterday that the latest estimates show an average of 2,500 new cases of children with cancer every year in the Philippines.

Dr. Marvie Abesamis, director of The Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service Foundation, said the figure only includes the children seen in hospitals and are diagnosed, it does not include those who do not reach the hospitals and just die.

Children who develop cancer usually are those who have a family history of the disease, she said.

Mothers who have viral infections while pregnant like Hepatitis B or HIV-AIDS are also found to have born children with cancer, she said.

Exposure to radiation, exhaust from vehicles and paints also cause cancer in children, she said.

Food can be a factor, but not too much with children with cancer, she said.

Food as a cause of cancer is associated with adults, she said.

Burnt food cause cancer of the esophagus, smoked food, like tinapa, cause cancer of the nasopharynx, molds in peanuts can trigger cancer of the liver, and too much fatty foods without fiber bring on colon cancer, she said.

When one has cancer in the family it is very difficult and stressful. The help of other people and volunteers play a very important role, she said.

She said one of the things her group has been doing to help is the holding of camps for children with cancer aging 9 to 20.

This gives the children an opportunity to have respite from the treatment, see other places and meet other cancer survivors so they can exchange notes on how to deal with what they have, she said.

That is why she is organizing the holding of a three-day camp in Negros for children with cancer from Western Visayas, Abesamis said, but added that a date has yet to be set.

The camp is being organized by TOWNS Foundation and the Dr. Pablo Or Torre Memorial Hospital Riverside Wellness Club, Millie Kilayko, a TOWNS awardee from Bacolod, said.

We are in the process of identifying partners, the camp needs funding support and volunteers whom we can train, Abesamis said.

And as part of their TOWNS advocacy program a traveling team of speakers also gives lectures on cancer that is now the number two leading cause of deaths next to cardiovascular diseases in the Philippines and even the world, she said.

We have to be aware of these disease because there are things we can do prevent it and detect it early, she said. The only way to make a difference in fighting a disease like cancer is to detect it early otherwise if we detect it late the best thing we can offer is hospice or palliative career, she also said.

Apart from children with cancer, Abesamis deals with hospice and palliative care for people who have terminal illnesses like cancer. This is to improve the quality life of the patient so there will be no pain if ever they are able to live the remaining days of their life well with dignity, she said.*CPG

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