I

t is never easy to treat children with cancer, nor is it easy detecting the disease.

Child cancer specialist Djajadiman Gatot said parents often had difficulty noticing the signs of cancer in their children, because, unlike adults, small kids tend not to complain about any pain or sickness they are enduring.

"That's why in most cases, the children come to the hospital when they are already at stage three or four," said Djajadiman, a doctor at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.

Leukemia, he said, is the most common type of cancer found in children, accounting for a third of the total number of cases. Other types of cancer affecting children include brain cancer, bone and muscle cancer, lymphoma (in the lymphatic system), retinoblastoma (eye cancer) and Wilms tumor (kidney cancer).

Although there is no exact figure on the incidence of cancer among Indonesian children, in Greater Jakarta alone around 650 children are diagnosed with cancer each year, according to the Indonesian Children's Oncology Foundation.

Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, for example, records around 130 to 150 new cases of child cancer each year, according to Djajadiman.

But cancers in children are more likely to be cured than those in adults, he added.

"Most cancer cases in adults have to do with external factors, like the condition of their surroundings. That makes them more difficult to handle," Djajadiman said.

Cancers in children, in the other hand, tend to be genetically caused.

"That's why they're more curable," Djajadiman said, adding, "around 70 percent of cancer cases in children can be cured."

The likelihood of curing a child of cancer, however, depends on how early the symptoms are detected.

"The earlier the cancer is detected, the greater the chance for the child to be cured because he or she can be provided with early medical treatment," Djajadiman said.

Ira Soelistyo, co-founder of the Care for Cancer Kids Indonesia Foundation, added that support and affection also greatly contribute to the healing process.

"From my experience, love and support can contribute some 40 percent to the child's recovery, while the rest goes to the medical treatment," Ira said.

But cancers in children are more likely to be cured than those in adults.