Cancer through children's eyes

Starship patient Phoebe Kerr, 3, has joined thousands of child cancer patients taking photos for an international exhibition of images by children with cancer.

The exhibition - Through My Eyes: A Day in the Life of Children with Cancer - will be held at a conference of child cancer organisations in Canada in September and aims to increase awareness of how children with cancer feel.

The children participating in the project have been given a week to take photos, beginning yesterday on International Childhood Cancer Day.

The International Confederation of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisations is organising the project with the Society of Paediatric Oncologists and the nurses committee of the organisation.

The exhibition will be shown at the organisations' next meeting in Vancouver.

The confederation's world president , Simon Lala, said the exhibition would show childhood cancer from the child's perspective.

"As parents we hold their hands and calm their fears while they walk through this journey, but what do we really know about what they see or feel?" he said.

He said children with cancer showed extraordinary courage and could be very creative. "We are expecting some quite different images."

It is hoped the images will be published in a book to educate the public about childhood cancer.

The New Zealand Child Cancer Foundation is extending the project and asking all children with cancer, not just those given cameras, to take photos and send them into their local branch of the foundation.

"We think this is a great idea. We want to make our own montages of images so that we can showcase the Kiwi kid experience to a local audience," said chief executive Jim Barclay.

Each year, 250,000 children around the world get cancer but only about 20 per cent receive proper diagnosis and treatment.