In society there functions a conviction that problems and demand of people in whom the oncologic process is the cause of disability concern only material and economic matters, the provision of material assistance and satisfaction of exclusively biological needs. It is forgotten that the problem of demands, which appears in this group of people, covers also educational, information, psychological and habitation aspects.

Attention should be paid to the satisfaction of needs and solving problems of the whole family, because disability is a state which afflicts the whole family, and often the closest environment of this person. Family is of great importance here, primarily as a social group system supporting an individual as its inseparable link of the total scheme. Family, most of all its individual members, exert a strong influence on the fulfilment of needs and solving problems – have an effect on the systematisation of the ‘pyramid of needs’.

Cancer affects both an individual and the functioning of the whole social system, beginning from the smallest – which is a family – and ending with the system of the whole country. It should also be considered that the ongoing social and economic transformation gave a new meaning to the factors conditioning the occurrence of problems, and consequently, also the elimination of these problems from the lives of people struggling with cancer.

Based on the analysis of a case report concerning a disabled person with cancer, the scope and hierarchy of this person’s needs is presented.