Cancer patients in the war zone

We continue our project on providing medical care to cancer patients in Ukraine during a full-scale war.

russia's war crimes, violation of the right of cancer patients to access to medicines, recording of shelling of hospitals.

What do cancer patients face in areas of active hostilities?

Our today's heroes will tell about all this.

We fled from Kharkiv on March 1 by train. We boarded the train and arrived in Ternopil. The eldest daughter came to Lviv. I come to her at the hostel on weekends.

And the younger one stayed in Ternopil. And I lived in Ternopil. Nothing hurt. But suddenly I fainted.

I was took to the regional hospital. Where are stroke patients. An MRI of the head was performed there. Tumors were discovered. And then we went here.

My treatment began at the Lviv Oncology Clinic. In general, it was like that.

I don't lose consciousness anymore. Probably because of this melanoma, some processes went further.

I don't have one tumor there, but several. I have to lie under the rays for five weeks. Saturday and Sunday are days off. Its fourth week now.

At first it was small. When it started to change, I went to the hospital. But it was very small. It was cut down. And they didn't do anything to me anymore in Kharkiv.

I'm here with the girls, something was done to someone immediately - whether it was chemistry or something else. And I was not offered anything.

Then they bombed the Kharkiv Cancer Center. Because it is located near the aircraft factory.

Northern Saltivka could be seen from the windows. The pleace where everything was bombed and burned.

It is not far from Okruzhnaya. We are not far from Okruzhnaya too. We can see this Northern Saltivka from the windows . We hid - my daughter called it a "bunker".

This is such a semi-basement. We hid there. This is the private sector. And when these armored cars already drove down the street, with machine guns on top, and then they were stopped, and they ran back. My daughter was makeing a video. And we decided to leave anyway.

Acquaintances and friends remained of course. Explosions every day.

I call to the Kharkiv every day. No peace there. Private sector, where the daughter built a two-story house a year ago.

The neighbor is not far away - a direct hit. And he collapsed there. Neighbors dug up. In the morning. He is contused - but alive.

So "roulette" - will hit or not.

My name is Igor, last name is Sydorak. Ihor Ivanovych. I was born in Lviv region. I studied at school in the city of Stryi.

Then went to the University of Construction and Architecture in Kharkiv. Studied there for five years, stayed to work, and was offered a job.

I worked and lived in Kharkiv for fifteen years. Then I was offered to move to Kyiv. Moved to Kyiv. Traveled Kyiv-Kharkiv at the first. Then I stayed to live in Kyiv on a permanent basis. But in Kharkiv, everyone is friends, even my registration remained Kharkiv.

Sometimes I come to Kharkiv. The ratio between Kyiv and Kharkiv is approximately 60% by 40%. Two or three times I come here to my mother in the Lviv region.

The war caught me - I woke up in the morning on the twenty-fourth and saw many missed calls. I didn't know what was happening. Turned on the TV - these explosions. Mom called. I heard explosions. Everyone says - run, run, war. I didn't understand anything.

I had cases in court. I had all the documents prepared. I called to work. They tell me we are not going anywhere today, then will be seen.

I didn't take it seriously, but two hours later, around eleven o'clock, explosions were heard. Next to me is the Plant named after Antonov, I have already heard the "thunder" there. And I realized that could no longer be calm.

I resigned myself to staying in Kyiv. I was enrolled in Teroboron even earlier. Then I got a call to guard the Beresteyska metro. To guard Shuliavka.

We were walking down the street when the air alarm sounded went in the basement.

Spent the night in the basement, because the air alarm was ten times a night. And ten times a day. And I live on the tenth floor. The air alarm is stopped, you go back, go up to the fifth - air alarm again. And so we spent the night. Women and children generally lived there, they adapted that basement, brought stoves.

We guarded there so that there were no outsiders. There were explosions in the area, in the parking lot. My comrades called me that tanks were driving in Obolon.

I didn't even believe it. Obolon is the district of Kyiv where I live. And then there were explosions near us, armored personnel carriers drove by.

We went out on patrol with the military on duty. Like this we lived for a month. The basement - an apartment. I brewed tea because it was not possible to cook food. Just put something on the tile - air alarm.

Where I live - the whole city is visible in front of me - such a panorama. Everything was "thundering", explosions.

When it hit the tower, in front of my eyes, I was just looking out the window, "bang" - the tower caught fire. This is somewhere on the third or fourth day. In the city center, imagine. It was impossible to leave - the road to Zhytomyr was blocked. They fired, no one will go.

It was also impossible to move in the direction of Odesa, because it was necessary to go through fifteen to twenty checkpoints only in Kyiv. Women, children were at the station. I didn't go there, because I really wouldn't have been able to catch the train. That's why I decided to stay - I think, whatever.

I stayed until the twenty-fourth of March. Month. Tired, without sleep, it is impossible to sleep. Then there was a bit of silence at the station - everyone had already left. I tried to go "reconnaissance".

I called a taxi. I stood there at the station, and there was just a free train. I got on that train in what  I was wearing. I didn't even come back. So I escaped after a month. It was difficult with products there at the first week or two - and the pharmacies did not work.

Grocery stores were not open. On March 13, I went to the store for the first time - to buy bread. I walked to "Silpo" forty-five minutes one way. And all the rest of the shops were closed. It was difficult - like a war city.

It was said that a person went to the kiosk to get water, but something was delayed him for a minute.

Was already going back, and a projectile fell on the same road. He says that if I hadn't stood still, hadn't talked on the phone - thirty seconds, the projectile would have hit the same place. It was from the first days.

They started leaving. One says that he was standing right in the kitchen, eating. And the projectile went straight into the yard. The window is gone.

They immediately got into the car and fled to Poltava. In the first days they just fired on the streets. On Saltivka, where I live before, these artillery shells fell directly into the courtyards, hailstones. I don't even know, maybe someone are no longer alive. We had a group of classmates.

They answered at first. We had a group of fifteen people there. At first they answered - then less and less. There were no more messages, and I don't know what happened with them until now.

My throat hurt. It was about the end of February. I didn't even notice. My throat hurt a little - I didn't pay attention.

Then, for a week, I ran to those basements on the street, and it was still cold. March was cold. We slept there lying on that concrete in the cold basement.

About a week after the start of the war, such a sharp pain in the throat began.

I thought I had a cold. It was difficult to eat. There were no medical facilities, polyclinics and hospitals did not work.

Then it became difficult to swallow. Even bread. I didn't eat anything, but when I grabbed a sandwich - I felt that it hurts. Very strongly.

When you don't eat, you practically don't feel it. The first two weeks - we practically did not eat anything. Some kind of juice, broth, kefir.

Then some sandwiches appeared. When I ate them, I felt pain - tolerable, but strong.

When I have went home, I went to the doctor the next day. At first he treated the throat - he said it was a throat cold. Treated for ten days. Nothing helped. I went to a second doctor. He prescribed me another treatment. And procedures on the root of the tongue. I was treated for another ten days. It does not pass. I was sent to Lviv - to the regional hospital.

There are three doctors here on a consultation - they saw that there is a small growth on the root of the tongue. At the initial phase. They cut it out, sent it for histology. Than they said – come here, let's talk. And I asked to tell me on the phone. But they didn't want.

It is sixty kilometers from Stryi to Lviv. I arrived. They say you need to operate.

The doctor said there is a small growth there, but nothing serious. I ask - cancer? He says it's cancer. But the first phase. I'll cut it out  - and everything will be fine.

Let's treat it. At that time, he had not yet told me I would have to undergo radiation therapy. I passed analyses. And four days later I came to Lviv for surgery. In the regional hospital. Everything was operated. For two weeks I was lying down, unable to speak, to drink, to eat.

This is the root of the tongue - painkillers were constantly given. And sleeping pills. Then I was at home. Because these were a sizeable wounds - it should all have healed in a month. Then I came here to the Oncology Center - and they told me to undergo radiation therapy.

Wounds were healing one month, although it still hurt when I arrived here. Here I need to be treated for a month and a half. My lymph nodes were cut, but they told me to undergo radiation therapy. The month has already passed. Hold on for two more weeks. It's hard for me, seriously hard.

The first days were easier for the organism. But this is accumulates day after day. You want to sleep - from morning to night. You go to bed - and you don't fall asleep. But you want to sleep. Everything inside dries out. Throat, nasopharynx - everything dries up.

And then - it hurts, tightens the throat. Difficult to swallow. Even drink water. Then pulls all the gums. Even eating a lollipop is such a burning pain, as if the entire nasopharynx was burned. You don't feel the flavors, and you can't swallow anything. I wanted to eat ice cream for support - it tastes like gasoline.

The appetite disappears - you can't eat. They say you need to eat. Some porridge, yogurt. You can't even swallow, and when you do it, you abominate. An unpleasant procedure. I have this area - throat and oral cavity. Such nuances.

I lost a lot of weight for that last month. I lay down on that board - my bones already hurt to lie on that board. To do this procedure. Even if you lie down for a couple of minutes, it already hurts. I lost a lot of weight - I can't eat anything. Ten kilograms is the minimum.

This material was prepared and financed by The European School of Oncology (Milan, Italy) - https://www.eso.net/

12/07/2023