Space Network News Jerusalem-based news website highlighting positive and inspiring stories & news

By Itzhak Rabihiya

President Rivlin met with young people from the Stop-Cancer community to mark the first awareness week for young cancer patients 

President Reuven Rivlin met today, Thursday 13, with young cancer patients ahead of the awareness week for young cancer patients, which will be held on 26-29 June. The meeting was attended by the Director of the Tal Foundation, Zohar Yakobson and eight representatives of the community who came to tell their story. 

The awareness week is an initiative of the Tal Center’s Stop-Cancer (‘Halasartan’) youth group. The center was established by the Jacobson family in memory of their daughter Tal, who died of cancer at the age of 26. The goal of the awareness week is to recognize that young cancer patients are a separate category, and to answer the unique needs and rights of the younger cancer patients in Israel. Stop-Cancer was established  in cooperation with the largest community of cancer patients in Israel, on social networks and beyond, and is home to more than 22,000 patients and those recovering from cancer between the ages of 18-44. 

The president spoke of the importance of awareness of young people who are dealing with cancer, saying, "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 goal of this awareness week is to place youth with cancer in a separate category and to address their needs and rights. Ten young people aged 18-44 are diagnosed with cancer every day. 13% of those diagnosed in Israel are young and approximately 70% of them are young women.

Several prominent Israeli figures took and will take part in the events, including CEO Adi Soffer Teeni, Google Israel CEO Barak Regev. They will be joined in supporting the awareness week by hospitals, health service providers, the communications industry and many more. Artist and photographer Ron Kedmi was recruited for the awareness week after reflecting the different points in time in which young people's lives pause as they learn that they have cancer.

Young cancer patients have psychosocial needs distinct from those of other demographics, according to publications by the National Cancer Institute as well as conversations with patient organizations. These issues arrise mainly because of other difficulties in coming of age such as sexuality, fertility, mental health, early symptoms of puberty and more.

Shira Kuperman, director of the Tal Center and the Stop-Cancer project, said: "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. Is also the main reason that 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. They face struggles in every area of life. Stop-Cancer is the new movement of patients’ organizations, with 22,000 sick and recovering young people who want to share their needs with us all, government and society, as well as supporting their friends. Stop-Cancer is truly a ground-breaking organization on a global level. 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." 

Zohar Yakobson, the founder of the community, said: "My husband and I lost a child from cancer. Tal was 25 when she was diagnosed and did a lot for society. She was a very active person, helping those who needed it. In the midst of life, she was diagnosed with a rare cancer. When you see a young girl, alive and flourishing, you do not think of cancer. We went through a ten-month journey that shook us to the core, but after she left, it was clear to us that we would not choose despair and depression. We wanted to bring light to all the dark places we saw. We established the Tal Center under the motto of changing the culture of cancer treatment. We started as a digital project, thinking it would bring together a few hundred people, and today it is a community of over twenty thousand. For the first time they are related to as individuals, not as patients. They talk about important things such as career, income, family and fertility.” 

The participants in the meeting, young people who are recovering and have recovered from cancer, 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. " 

Attached photo credit: Mark Neiman (GPO)