The Associació Llavaneres contra el càncer managed to raise €12,500 for cancer research and care for AYAs (Adolescents & Young Adults) patients.
This donation will be directed to the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), specifically to the Genitourinary Tumours Group (non-prostate), the Central Nervous System (CNS), Sarcomas and Tumours of unknown origin.
Since 2022, Dr. Macarena González, oncologist and researcher of this group, together with Dr. Paula Pérez, paediatric oncologist at VHIR, are working together to improve the care of adolescent and young adult patients in a pioneering multidisciplinary unit that treats AYA patients with central nervous system tumours, germ cell tumours, sarcomas and other tumours that are typically paediatric.
AYA patients are cancer patients between the ages of 15 and 26 who, due to their age, psychosocial needs and special epidemiology, require individualised and specific care.
Dr. Macarena González and Dr. Paula Pérez together with a multidisciplinary team made up of social workers, physiotherapists and neuropsychologists have developed a specific mobile application for these patients. In this application, they can find recommendations for quality of life, nutrition, care, physical exercise, etc.
This project arose from the need to offer more recommendations and information to this group of patients. It was designed with the intention that this application could be used in different hospitals in the future.
Dr. Macarena González comments: “We think health recommendations must be within their reach and in a more understandable language for them. They need to be more dynamic and easier to understand“.
In this application, patients will be able to find a blog, contrast information, explanatory videos and recommendations, which they may need during treatment and subsequent monitoring of the disease. It is also planned to include a section for contacting medical staff to ask questions and request information.
“These patients often have rare tumours, so we thought it was important to centralise information and provide them with tools and advice,” explains Dr. Pérez.
Thanks to the donation from the Associació Llavaneres contra el càncer, it will be possible to finance the costs of developing the application so that it can be implemented and used as soon as possible.
Dr. Lucas Moreno, head of the Paediatric Oncology and Haematology Service at Vall d’Hebron Hospital and of the Children’s Cancer and Haematological Diseases group at Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) expresses his gratitude: “We are very grateful for this donation because it will allow us to carry out this project that will help many young patients who will be able to be informed whenever they need it”.
ASSOCIACIÓ LLAVANERES CONTRA EL CANCER
This association, with its 50 years of history, has always raised funds for cancer research. They have organised many events and solidarity initiatives and have donated to many cancer research centres and hospitals such as: Hospital Clínic, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Can Ruti Hospital, ICO Girona, Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, among others.
Among its regular activities are solidarity walks, the sale of roses for Sant Jordi, the Nordic solidarity walks and the famous annual ‘calçotadas’. More information about the association.
Thank you for helping us continue our research!
