We, the founders of the Association are mainly parents of children cured from childhood cancer or leukemia. The president is Erika Dr. Borszekine Cserhati, and her two vices are Anita Keresztes and Dr. Peter Hauser. Erika and Anita are both parents of three children, one of whom suffered from childhood cancer, and Peter Hauser is a pediatric oncologist.
The Association is proud to include parents, survivors, doctors, nurses, psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers and even affected civilians, but one thing is common: everyone does their work besides their normal jobs, on a total charity basis.
The birth of the organization was due to the urge we felt that we wanted to give back something of the great support we received during the treatments. It all came naturally; we knew we can’t sit and do nothing after seeing the problems of the families involved and knowing there are areas where much improvement can be done with a bit of attention, energy, and love.
We teamed up in 2016 and formed the Érintettek Association. There is no English equivalent for the word Érintettek. Perhaps the word involved or the phrase touched one is the closest.
We proudly say we are enthusiastic amateurs; we don’t do this for a living, we’re not professionals. But it certainly doesn’t mean we don’t do everything we can to only have programmes that are 100% in line with the official medical and professional points of view.
Dr. Peter Hauser oversees this medical authenticity.
We are very grateful that we live in an age where, thanks to the development of medicine, most children are now successfully cured. However, this increasingly effective treatment has presented a new challenge to doctors and researchers worldwide: the monitoring of late side effects of the treatments has become one of the burning questions of our days.
It is essential that former cancer patients and their families, as well as those who treat them, unite in this extremely important matter. And we can unite with the affected families, Hungarian and international organizations in Europe and the wider world. This is how the latest research results reach us, and we can find out exactly after what time it is advisable to carry out screening tests if we want to minimize the consequences of possible late side effects associated with previous treatments.
In cooperation with HUPON, our Association takes part in the following Work Packages:
WP2 Specification
We help HUPON to collect the needs in terms of unmet supportive care and assess how digital tools could improve the quality of life of children, adolescents and young adult cancer patients, survivors and families.
We help to review the current state-of-the-art of e-health tools and technologies and to assess and describe the psychosocial needs of children, adolescents and young adult cancer survivors and their families.
WP4 Implementation
We would like to participate in the implementation of cancer survivor passports in Hungary:
- Explore the technical integration between the new electronic tool for personalised supportive care and the passport systems.
- Implement this electronic tool
- Scale-up and ensure sustainable maintenance of this tool over time
WP5 Effectiveness evaluation
We would like to participate in testing the effectiveness of the electronic tools in Hungary.
Anita Keresztes-Németh
Anita is an economist, mother of three girls. She became affected in the summer of 2012, when her then two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rather aggressive childhood cancer. Dorka, who became ill, was their third child. Besides her, they had two healthy girls. They were four and five years old when their parents found out that all of their lives were turned upside down in a single moment. Between the summer of 2012 and the beginning of 2014, they went through pretty much everything that can be done. At this time Dorka received countless chemotherapy treatments, several surgeries, autologous stem cell transplants, radiation treatment and six months of vitamin A follow-up treatment.
He has been officially symptom-free since the end of January 2014.
Anita accepted the position of Vice-President of Érintettek and the difficult and beautiful tasks that come with it because she felt that, as a person involved, she knew very well what the family – and especially the parents – needed in theory and in practice. She also really wants to give something back to the doctors, nurses and other professionals during the treatments and hospital stays. She is proud to be part of this initiative.
Erika Borszékiné dr. Cserháti
Erika is a mother of three. She studied law and works in the energy sector.
Her middle child was three weeks old when a new era began in her family’s life in 2010. Gyurci was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at a very advanced stage, with bone marrow involvement. They spent most of the first year and a half of his life at the Children’s Hospital on Tűzoltó Street and at the Szent László Hospital: operations, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation, 100 days in the Steryl Box, maintenance treatment…
George is now a big boy, living the exciting life of a schoolboy.
After the treatments, George’s parents volunteered for years to help children with cancer and leukaemia. She is the initiator and co-author of a fairy tale written for children suffering from this disease (The Bravery Test). They have organised a charity auction, a drawing competition, a running competition, painted a fairytale corridor, worked on the renovation of family homes – they have tried to help where they can.
The Érintettek association means a lot to her. Through her volunteer work with the association, she tries to say thank you for all the things for which there are no words. “We cannot do great things, only small things, with great love. We, the touched …. for the touched,” she says.
Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft