A Stanford doctor is back in the Bay Area after helping Ukrainian children with cancer escape the war zone and get the care they need at a U.S. hospital.
Dr. Paul Wise, the Richard Behrman Professor of Child Health and Society at Stanford University, helped four children with cancer flee Ukraine to get the critical care they need.
"They are not only in the midst of treatment for very serious pediatric diseases but are literally leaving facilities, leaving their homes, being displaced," Wise said.
The young patients and their families left Poland on a state department jet. The patients were then taken to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee.
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"I was privileged to be on the first evacuation of children from Ukraine to the United States," Wise said.
Wise worked on logistics and security in Poland to make sure the children arrived safely.
The effort was part of the Safer Ukraine initiative at St. Jude Global.
So far, the emergency program has helped evacuate nearly 700 children with cancer out of Ukraine.
Despite the success of the program, doctors are still struggling to treat hundreds of other children with cancer who remain in Ukraine.
"They are working under very difficult conditions," Wise said. "Lviv has been hit by missiles and air strikes and they continue to receive children from all over Ukraine."
Wise is already planning to return to Poland to help more children.
"The strength and resilience of these families and children is just remarkable and should never be forgotten," he said.
