Fighting to Care: Children, Cancer, and Agency in a Pediatric Hospital in Argentina

Fighting to Care explores the lived experiences of children with pediatric blood cancer in Argentina, centering the struggles to care from the moment a child is labelled as experiencing "strangeness in the blood.” The book focuses on the notion of "permeable bodies" to understand children’s corporeal and subjective dynamic experience of cancer treatment and interpersonal care. Despite their vulnerability, throughout the course of demanding treatment, children display significant agency, actively navigating their medical journeys through various forms of communication and action. Fighting to Care also highlights the collective forms of care and the personal and interpersonal pain experienced by children, their families, and healthcare professionals in contexts of urgency and against health bureaucracies. In Argentina, caregiving, that is, fighting to care, is deeply intertwined with fighting for health rights within a public healthcare system that, while historically universal and free, is complex and impacted by recurring economic crises and social inequalities. Read more