In the flurry of holiday season activities, it's a challenge to find time for strangers who need help. But it is also the time that people in need crave the return to normalcy the most. Cancer patients going through treatment hope to complete it as soon as possible and find a reason to celebrate. Unfortunately, often times the lack of money gets in the way. This is why this project supports patients traveling abroad to access modern treatment and helps alleviate financial burden of cancer.
Consider Kate's story. She had recently turned 14. She comes from Sakhalin Island, in the Far East of Russia. In 2017, Kate had two vaccinations against papillomavirus. In October 2017, a month later after the second vaccination, she developed a painful swelling in the injection area, which had cleared by itself a few weeks later. The symptoms were mistaken for a side effect of the vaccine. However, the swelling reappeared in January 2018 accompanied by a burning pain.
The examination in Sakhalin clinics revealed a malignant tumor in Kate's left upper arm. The initial diagnosis also stated a possibility for arm amputation. After consulting doctors in Russia and Japan, Kate’s parents have decided to take their daughter to Israel. In February 2018, they arrived in Tel Aviv. There Kate has gone through a complete examination and received a final diagnosis – Ewing’s sarcoma of the left humerus.
Since March 2018, Kate has gone through all of the required chemotherapy, as well as complex surgery of the affected bone and replacement with an implant. It all went pretty well and Kate and her parents hope to finish the final evaluation and the last minor surgery by the end of the year and complete the treatment. Hopefully, they will soon be able to travel home and rejoin the rest of their family. Kate's parents are both retired and have used all of their life savings to support their daughter’s treatment. They are very grateful for help with their travel expenses.
Would you like to help more patients like Kate? Now is a great time to sign up for recurring donations and earn 100% bonus from Global Giving on your donation. Until December 31, every monthly donation of up to $200 that is made for at least 4 months, will receive a match. We hope to enjoy your continuing support and help more families during 2019!
Happy holiday season to you and have a happiest New Year!
The year is coming to an end, and what a year it has been! But no matter how uncertain and volatile the things are in the wider world, our work remains constant and focused on the same goals as in the past: helping cancer patients access modern treatments. To this end, we have supported 7 patients with blood cancers and spend over $43,000 to allow them to afford bone marrow donor searches. These are people of all ages, of different professions and from various regions of Russia. The only thing that unites them is their diagnosis - something that happened to them randomly, out of nowhere. It's not only an emotional shock, but a financial disaster, as so many costs of treatment the patients are expected to pay on their own - including searches for a foreign bone marrow donor for those who need them.
Oleg is the patient we supported most recently. He was born in Kazakhstan, but after the Soviet Union collapsed, he moved his family to St. Petersburg. Oleg loves to travel and he had worked as a driver his whole career. In 2017 he was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disorder that can transfom into leukemia. Only bone marrow transplant from a donor can cure Oleg. Unfortunately, no matching donors were found within Russia and the search was extended to the donor registries abroad where there are several potential matches. Oleg's family already made an initial payment of 6,000 euros to the registry after selling his daughter's apartment. However, they could not afford to pay off the balance of the registry bill. Your help allowed us to transfer 6,900 euros to the registry and help Oleg with this financial burden.
There are many other patients like Oleg: people of modest means, breadwinners, parents of young children. Very rarely there are patients who can afford cancer treatment on their own. Most patients will need our help at some point in their treatment journey. We hope you can consider making a gift to these people as part of your holiday giving. One of the best gifts would be a recurring donation, since patients need help throughout the year, not just during holidays. Now is the best time to sign up, as until December 31st Global Giving will add an additional 100% match on the initial donation (up to $200 per donor) as long as it remains active for at least four consecutive payments!
Thank you for supporting us this year! We wish you a joyful holiday season and a happy New Year!
As we are approaching the end of the year, we would like to report our preliminary results. So far this year, this project supported 20 cancer patients, children and adults, from Russia, Georgia and Tajikistan. We spent over $28,000 on medications to help these patients acccess the right treatment. We are very grateful to our supporters and hope we can reach even more patients before the year is over.
In less than 3 weeks, #GivingTuesday will offer a great opportunity to make a larger impact with your donation. On that day, GlobalGiving will run a matching campaign to celebrate and encourage giving. $150,000 in matching funds and 30+ bonus prizes (ranging from $3,000 to $100) will be released over a 24-hour period on #GivingTuesday. #GivingTuesday Campaign will begin November 27, 2018, at 00:00:00 ET and end at 23:59:59 ET on November 27, 2018.
Another exciting offer is to match new recurring donations up to $200 per donor per project from #GivingTuesday and until December 31. These new recurring donations will get an additional 100% match on the initial donation as long as it remains active for four consecutive payments.
Whether you choose to make a one-time or a recurring donation, we hope you join us on November 27th! We are looking forward to celebrating our cause, our volunteers and our supporters on that day. Thank you so much for supporting our mission! Together we are making a difference in the patients' lives, and with your support we will continue bridging gaps in access to treatment.
