Alejandra Mendez, Vice President of Childhood Cancer International, shared on LinkedIn:
“‘It is not enough to save lives. We must also work to ensure the best possible quality of life after cancer.’
This is the central message of my new article for Together by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Childhood cancer care must extend beyond treatment.
Survivors need support to return to school, care for their physical and mental health, build relationships, pursue opportunities and make choices about their future.
One of those choices is whether to have children.
Cancer treatment can affect fertility, yet patients and families do not always receive information or timely access to preservation options before treatment begins.
Title: Beyond Survival: Why Childhood Cancer Survivorship Must Include the Right to a Full Life
Author: Alejandra Mendez.
Alejandra Mendez and her son, Pablo, have advocated for the right to be forgotten in oncology in Chile
Read The Full Article.
In Chile, we are working to advance legislation that would make fertility preservation care accessible to people facing cancer, with public funding so that these options are not determined by their ability to pay.
Chile’s Right to Be Forgotten law showed what is possible when we recognize that survivors’ rights matter long after treatment.
What moves me most is that this law shows that survivorship matters. That dignity matters.
That a person who has already gone through so much should not have to keep paying for cancer for the rest of their life.
There is still so much to be done, We must keep going!
Thank you Eluz Vilchez and Daniel Bastardo Blanco for helping bring visibility to this important issue and to the voices of survivors.”
You can also read: Alejandra Mendez Highlights the Impact of the Zero Abandonment Programme in Childhood Cancer
