In Portugal, around 400 new cases of pediatric cancer are diagnosed per year. To accompany their children during treatments, many parents have to choose who stays with the child and who continues working to ensure the family's livelihood. This reality means that often only one of the parents can be present during the most difficult moments of the illness.
Families alert that a single caregiver is sometimes not enough to provide all the care that a child with cancer needs during hospitalization and appointments. The presence of both parents would allow for more adequate and shared support in these situations of great vulnerability.
Parents ask for greater support so that they can both be present during treatments, without this compromising the family's financial stability. The need for psychological, logistical, and financial support has been highlighted as essential to ensure that children are not left without the company of those they need most.
