Each year in Europe , more than 30,000 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer. Nearly 6000 die from it - the equivalent of 240 classrooms - for lack of appropriate treatment. Cancer is the leading cause of death from disease in children .
Progress is needed both to cure more and to prevent better. Similarly, families must be better protected during a serious illness or an accident in the life of a child in the face of employment, housing, tax administration, etc.Since its creation, the “Eva pour la vie” association has provided emergency financial assistance to researchers and families of sick or deceased children. It also intervenes to improve comfort in the hospital. But it is at the origin of an unprecedented fundamental fight. She has initiated, with many supporters, steps with institutions - deputies, senators, ministries & Elysée - to obtain a French LOI guaranteeing a research fund dedicated to cancers & incurable diseases of children, as well as an improvement of help for families. Public generosity is essential, but it cannot replace the State.
At our instigation, a bill by deputy Jean-Christophe Lagarde, aimed at creating a fund dedicated to research into childhood cancers, worth €25 million/year, was rejected by the National Assembly at the end of 2014, prompting strong indignation. This was followed by an unprecedented approach in France: a parliamentary study group, chaired by the deputy of Gironde Martine Faure, proceeded until 2017 to hearings of associations, researchers, doctors, families and institutions, with conclusions that match ours.
At the end of 2018, MP Benoît Simian and his colleagues obtained a fund of €5m/year for oncopediatric research. In the spring of 2020, a bill by Guy Bricout aimed at providing financial & psychological support to the families of deceased children was adopted: we have made a strong contribution to it. We also work with Paul Christophe, who obtained the doubling of the duration of the AJPP and its revaluation at the minimum wage in 2021. At the end of October 2021, an amendment carried by Béatrice Descamps made it possible to allocate an additional €20 million for research childhood cancers : a spectacular step forward, made possible thanks to permanent substantive work.
The mobilization continues with you, with "Grandir Sans Cancer", in order to obtain additional improvements for the child, in particular during the fight against a serious illness or handicap, an accident in life, and a real protected parent status (against housing, employment, tax debts) for the families concerned.
Any child can be affected: that of your friend, your colleague, a relative, yours. Help us by signing our petition, by joining, by making a donation, by challenging political decision-makers to support with dignity what is most precious: the lives of children.