"Perhaps there is no lie more white than that of a woman who hides brain cancer from her mother. Even less so in the middle of a war. The daughter's name is Inna Kochenko and she is 30 years old. She is large, serious, and has a noble gaze. It's obvious she suffers for her mother, Lubov Uzhishchenko, 49, bedridden with her brain severely damaged, with no hope of recovery."
"Experts say that the stress of war can awaken illnesses, exacerbating them, precisely when loneliness increases, the possibility of being left hopeless while your loved ones flee or die. The explosions and bombings greatly affect my mother's condition, Kochenko laments, and I can't avoid them because we don't have a shelter nearby. According to data collected by the Ukrainian office of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), some 500,000 people in the country require palliative care."
"This is why her daughter receives regular visits from Alina Kazalap, a 30-year-old oncologist who heads a mobile palliative care unit at Nizhin Central Hospital. Their relationship is almost familial. The specialist admits that a disease like cancer spreads more quickly due to the stress and sleep deprivation that daily violence causes in patients. Kazalap also acknowledges that, given Uzhishchenko's fear of the word cancer, her daughter is right to lie."
Inna Kochenko cares for her bedridden mother, Lubov Uzhishchenko, who has severe brain damage and no hope of recovery. War-related stress, explosions, and lack of shelter worsen the mother's condition and accelerate illnesses through stress and sleep deprivation. Around 500,000 people in Ukraine require palliative care, including the elderly, disabled, wounded veterans, and patients with incurable illnesses. Mobile palliative units provide household visits and familial support. Oncologist Alina Kazalap notes that psychological trauma elevates suffering and that relatives sometimes hide diagnoses to protect patients. Limited financial and human resources constrain service availability.
Read at english.elpais.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]