Written by Riham Alkousaa and Emilie Madi
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Small Lebanese businessman Ahmad Fahess thought nothing could be worse than being diagnosed with cancer until he was at work one day when Israeli airstrikes began targeting his hometown of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.
When he saw the chaos around him, he realized that he had to grab his family and run away.
“We want to go back to our homes, to our work,” she said through tears as she received cancer treatment at the American University of Beirut’s. Medicine (TASE:) Center (AUBMC), his sister sitting by his bed.
Israel launched a wide-scale offensive in southern Lebanon in September, nearly a year after Iran-backed Hezbollah militants fired rockets into northern Israel as Israeli forces battled Hamas gunmen who had attacked Israel from Gaza.
Washington is trying to terminate the deal but Israel says it must be able to continue defending itself. It says Hezbollah is using civilians as human shields, something the military denies.
A father of two teenagers who owns four welding shops in Nabatieh, Fahess is now unsure not only when he will be able to go home, but also how long he will be able to receive treatment for a rare cancer, sarcoma, that affects the joint. muscles in his left arm.
“I would come to Beirut for three days for treatment and then return home,” he said. “Now with the war, we were expelled, and the struggle for treatment began.”
Thousands of cancer patients are among the more than a million people who have left their homes.
“Everything happened very quickly. We were at work when the bombing started; we were surprised by that,” he said. He fled with his family to Antelias in Mount Lebanon with only $4,500 which quickly dwindled.
Fahess now relies on the Hospital’s Cancer Support Fund, a charity that was established in 2018 to help cancer patients and now also provides additional support to refugees.
“Treatment is expensive; if the hospital hadn’t helped me, I wouldn’t have been able to afford it,” he said.
But he is worried about the end of the subsidy. “If we have to pay and return to our homes, it would be fine, but if we are still evicted, it will not happen,” he said.
Lebanon’s health ministry said more than 2,500 cancer patients were forced to seek new treatment facilities, as at least eight hospitals in southern Lebanon and areas south of Beirut were out of service due to Israeli bombardment.
Cancer was already too expensive to treat under Lebanon’s health system, which in recent years has been hit by an economic crisis.
It is now under great stress, said Ali Taher, director of the Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute at AUBMC, adding that treating displaced patients has brought new problems, including finding their medical records and missing doctors.
“It’s difficult to get tested for cancer early because it is no longer important for people,” said Taher.
Ghazaleh Naddaf, 67, was displaced from an area south of Debel. Now living with his brother in Beirut, the former pharmacist’s assistant lost his job and was unable to pay for his multiple myeloma treatment for two months.
“I skip medication and medicine,” she said. “I used to come twice a week for treatment, paying more than $1,000. I can’t afford it anymore,” adding that he also needs a bone marrow transplant that costs $50,000, which he cannot afford.
“It is a war, there is no safety, and I still need treatment to continue my life,” she said.
Hala Dahdah Abou Jaber, the founder of the Cancer Support Fund, said that cancer patients who are evicted from their homes must choose between basic needs and treatment methods that put their health at risk and many are no longer able to pay for their treatment.
“Cancer does not wait. Cancer is not a disease that gives you time; it is difficult,” she said.
