Valentina Peter was a cheerful, clever and musically very talented girl, who went to the humanistic Spohn middle school in Ravensburg, where special classes are offered for highly gifted children in addition to their elementary school studies. She was barely 12 years old when she received the deadly diagnosis of bone cancer. Even so, she was always jolly and tough. She accepted the tumor’s declaration of war and became a fighter, together with the University Hospital in Ulm. Her confidence in the pediatric oncology department of the University Hospital Ulm (KK3), as well as her cheerfulness were unshakable until the end. On April 9, 2016 she passed away peacefully at the end of her last stay at the hospital.

Quite a number of children – one of whom was Valentina – are afflicted by serious cancers, irrespective of age, gender and origin. The inevitable therapy usually means a very long ordeal for the children and their whole family, with at best a chance of survival but never a guarantee. Often the best solution is to provide these children, especially in the last phase of their lives, with intensive medical care at home. The Ulm University Hospital, Department of Paediatric Oncology, under the direction of Prof. Dr. med. Daniel Steinbach has initiated a project (PalliKJUR) that, together with local clinical partners, enables palliative and intensive medical support for seriously ill children in rural areas. The partner in the district of Ravensburg is the OSK.