Polish children with brain tumors face treatment crisis as key centre closes

Two‑year‑old Adam Owczarek from Strzałki, Poland, was diagnosed with a malignant ependymoma of the brain. He underwent an eight‑hour operation and remains in intensive care, now battling a serious cerebrospinal‑fluid infection while awaiting further surgery.

Parents of other children with brain and solid‑tumour cancers in the Silesian region have launched a petition to Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The petition demands the reinstatement of the paediatric oncology unit at the Górnośląskie Centrum Zdrowia Dziecka in Katowice, which was closed on 1 July 2026 and moved to a hospital in Zabrze that lacks a specialist in paediatric brain‑tumour surgery. The closure forces families to travel to other voivodeships for treatment, disrupting coordinated care that required oncologists, neurosurgeons, radiologists and intensive‑therapy teams under one roof.