Mexican NGO for Children with Cancer Finds Ally in the Hotel Sector

Cancun (Mexico), 19 Mar Cancun hotels and private companies have become an important ally of organizations that support children with cancer and their families in a particularly serious time due to the lack of certain medicines throughout the country, said Paulina Castillo, founder and president of Amanc (Association) Mexican aid to children with cancer) in Quintana Roo. Paulina Castillo highlighted that the NGO, which is over 40 years old and is represented in 23 states of the country, represents for many families the only alternative to access medicines and specialized care in the northern part of the state, since the only public children's cancer center is in Chetumal. “The Mexican Social Security Institute has a special area for the care of children with cancer, fortunately about seven months ago they gave us the good news and finally in Cancun there is an area that can serve families who have access to social security,” he said. Currently, he said, children and adolescents who are diagnosed with some type of cancer can only receive specialized consultation in Chetumal or Mérida, in Yucatan, which represents numerous expenses for families. “Cancer is the second leading cause of death in children after accidents. Today we are directly supporting 108 children, but that does not mean that they are the only ones with cancer in the state, there are many more, we are working hard to try to diagnose in time so that cancer becomes a fight for life rather than a fight against death,” he said. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, he explained, many doctors consider that cases diagnosed with childhood cancer have become more aggressive. The highest incidence of cancers that occur in the state are cases of leukemia, followed to a lesser degree by solid tumors, many of which can be removed when detected early. “When they are solid tumors, patients have to be sent to Mérida because only there can they be treated, and then the first need is a transfer, they are per diem, for which we have to be prepared to be able to solve the family, and that is where support comes from with medicines, chemotherapies and sometimes things as basic as give them a pantry so that families do not fall apart with the economic part,” he said. And it is right at this point that the help of hotels, such as the Spanish chain Riu, becomes a fundamental part of the fact that organizations such as Amanc and the Aitana Foundation can have economic income to help them carry out their social work. “Sometimes it gets more complicated because we have cases where up to one million pesos ($50,000) is needed for a transplant, or there are children who often don't react with a common chemotherapy drug and have to resort to a much more expensive drug, surgeries, more treatments, more studies that will increase these amounts”, explained. “Unfortunately, too much money is needed to be able to attend a child and then you have to be knocking on doors for them and fortunately they have been opening, as is the case with the Riu hotel, which organized a dinner for the benefit of AMANC,” he explained. Alma Lidia Tesillos Marcelino, director of responsibility for Riu Hotels, explained that as part of the hotel chain's support programs they have a permanent relationship with Fundación Aitana and now also with Amanc. Last year alone, they contributed to 103 children and adolescents with cancer receiving more than 2,000 doses of cancer drugs, 267 chemotherapies, radiotherapy sessions and numerous supplies and studies required for these cases. CHIEF lc/esc/laa/ar (photo)