Pediatric Onco-Hematology

Nearly one in 450 children develops cancer each year in France, representing 2,500 patients under the age of 18 annually. More than 80% of them recover thanks to specific treatments. These treatments take place in specialized departments such as the Pediatric Oncology-Hematology Department at the Caen University Hospital. We welcome children from the western Normandy region (Calvados, Manche, and Orne) as well as children from other regions (Pays de la Loire, Normandy, Brittany, and beyond) to receive proton therapy (a specific radiotherapy technique available in only three centers in France).

The Pediatric Oncology-Hematology-Immunology Department at Caen University Hospital provides care for children and adolescents, from 0 to 18 years old, for:

• Cancers and leukemias, which are cancers of the blood,
• Some benign tumors,
• Bone marrow aplasia,
• So-called "benign", non-cancerous blood diseases, such as abnormalities of the red blood cell (sickle cell disease, hereditary spherocytosis, autoimmune hemolytic anemia…), of the platelets (immune thrombocytopenic purpura, …),
• Acquired immune deficiencies (after certain medications, an infection, removal of the spleen…) or primary (genetic).

The service comprises 11 beds, including 5 in a so-called "protected" unit and a 4-bed day hospital unit. Patients are referred primarily by their general practitioner after direct telephone approval, but also by local hospitals and pediatric emergency departments.

A parents' association called CADET ROUSSEL (Tel: 02 33 97 43 85) regularly intervenes to help children and their families. It funds numerous initiatives, including the "coffee and croissant" which allows parents to meet once a week with volunteers trained in active listening.

The association also allows the intervention of a storyteller, a musician, a physical activity educator and a socio-esthetician.

A family house located a 5-minute walk from the University Hospital, managed by this association, is available to families, thus facilitating the stay of those living far from Caen.

Various associations, such as Cadet Rousseland Les Fées Papillons, offer additional activities: tickets to shows at the Zénith or the Stade Malherbe de Caen (football), boat trips, and gatherings of children treated over the past ten years and their families for the Christmas celebration, shows in the ward, etc.

The difficulty of the often repeated hospitalizations is eased by the intervention of an early childhood educator who engages the children in play and various activities. A teacher also works within the ward for hospitalized children. She takes over from the children's regular schooling or from the home schooling program implemented when school attendance is impossible.

Within the framework of care pathways, when the family has to move for care (for example, an allogeneic bone marrow transplant in Rennes or Rouen) , a support system for families also exists at the national level, in collaboration with the social workers of the SFCE centers via U-Link .