- Radio Terrícola, from Envera, interviews the president of Pequeño Valiente
- 9/10 families with children with cancer request a disability rating
- International Childhood Cancer Day is commemorated every February 15.
Madrid | February 14, 2023
Every year in Spain there are more than a thousand cases of childhood cancer in children between the ages of 0 and 14, according to data from the Spanish Association Against Cancer. From the moment of diagnosis, the lives of patients and their families change radically, transforming their routines into a constant hustle and bustle of hospital visits and medical treatments. For this reason, the families are calling for the 33% disability rate to be recognized from the time the disease is diagnosed.
The Spanish Federation of Parents of Children with Cancer(FEPNC) recalls that this historical demand allows children and their families to access a series of aids and services, such as economic benefits, rehabilitation treatments, means of adaptation in the home, educational support or transportation aids, among many others. All of these are resources that facilitate the quality of life of young patients and their families.
According to the Study on Disability in Minors and Adolescents with Cancer in Spain 2014-2020, prepared by the Federation, nine out of ten families with children with cancer request a disability assessment, which takes on average two months to be answered and whose resolution does not conform to common criteria, as it will depend on the community where the minor resides.
Niños con cáncer suggests as a solution that the recognition of the 33% degree of disability should be automatic at the moment of cancer diagnosis, and asks the Administrations to include this measure in a state regulation, allowing the beneficiaries to benefit from a series of rights and aids derived from this recognition and also to avoid having to carry out the administrative procedures involved in applying for disability at a time that is already difficult for the families.
Pequeño Valiente, an organization that was born from Canary Island families who joined forces to fight against childhood cancer and currently offer the necessary support at all times to children and their families, joins this petition.
Since 2019, Pequeño Valiente has had a collaboration agreement with Envera to promote the care and social inclusion of children affected by childhood cancer. This NGO, which was born out of Iberia 45 years ago, works so that people with intellectual disabilities can take their place in the world with dignity.
Envera also supports the historical demand of families for "children with cancer to obtain a disability certificate in an expeditious manner, so that they receive the best health and social care, and thus ensure equal opportunities and that they are not excluded from society".
Envera has joined the commemoration of the International Children's Cancer Day with an interview to José Juan Jerez Castro, president of Pequeño Valiente, in Radio Terrícola, a workshop conducted by people with intellectual disabilities from Envera's occupational centers.
During the interview, Jerez defined "excellence and immediacy" as the motto that guides Pequeño Valiente. After praising his entire team, the president also wanted to put on record the effort and dedication of the work they do, which "can be insufficient when they come up against certain walls". Walls that, in his experience, could be demolished by improving public services and streamlining administrative procedures.
An example of the work carried out by Pequeño Valiente is the future opening of its home-home in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Tenerife. A project that seeks to alleviate the impact of the transfer and accommodation of the child and his family away from the usual place of residence of the known social environment and, sometimes, even without the usual support network of the child.
