Papa Lion

No one is born a parent. We all learn along the way. And there are some tough moments in a parent’s life, but none is tougher than having to watch your child fight for their life without being able to provide any help. The feeling you get when you are first told that your baby has cancer cannot be described. Your heart stops for a moment. Time stops. Your memories and dreams flash before your eyes. Your life has changed. Forever. But at the same time, human resilience and the need for survival kick in. You get up, you wipe your tears, you put on your best smile and reach to the science. And today, science and medicine have advanced so much that many of us will have a chance to see their child get back on their feet and live a normal life. But some parents won’t.
As a parent, I have the luck to see my child start school this year. But at the same time, I cannot forget the faces of parents that I met in the hospital, in the little kitchen of the oncology department where we would cross each other and just say hi, who still spend most of their time in the hospital with their child hoping for a better tomorrow. Even more, I cannot forget the faces of the parents whom I met and who have lost their child to deadly forms of cancer, because no treatment worked. That is why I am taking part in the Run to Kick and raising money to help fund research on paediatric cancer.

— Dimitris