Help Cancer Patients Pay for Travel Expenses!

Happy Giving Tuesday!  Thank you for joining us today in celebrating the day of giving, sharing and remembering.  As you know, our work centers around supporting cancer patients from the former Soviet Union.  Unfortunately, countries in that region are significantly behind developed countries in the quality of cancer care.  This gap is even more pronounced in pediatric cancer.  For example, procedures like bone marrow transplants are still not available to children with cancer in Ukraine.  New and more effective medications take many years before making their way to the countries in the region. 

Ivan's case is typical for child diagnosed with cancer in Ukraine.  His fight for his life began 9 years ago, when he was only 4. On September 2, 2010 to his parents’ utter shock he was diagnosed with acute leukemia. Ivan was treated at the local hospital in Nikolaev, Ukraine and the treatment went well. Once he completed it, Ivan went back to preschool and then entered elementary. Suddenly, when he was 8, Ivan collapsed with partial paralysis and loss of consciousness. The testing revealed recurrence of acute leukemia, and this time only bone marrow transplant could give Ivan hope for recovery.  As it was not available to Ivan in Ukraine, in July 2015 his family took him to Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome, Italy.   In November of that year Ivan received donor’s bone marrow transplant. Again, Ivan was able to return to normal life – school and hobbies, math and kickboxing. His family hoped the worst was behind them. Unfortunately, four years later, in September 2019, Ivan started feeling unwell during practice.  As it turned out, he had a second relapse. His family was shuttered by the news, but they came together and decided to return to Italy for treatment, as the local doctors had no experience treating patients post bone marrow relapse. Currently, Ivan is receiving immunotherapy and he is responding well. Ivan’s parents are unable to work as they are taking care of Ivan in Italy.  They need our support to ensure Ivan is able to finish his treatment. 

Thanks to your kindness, we were able to grant Ivan's family with 1,000 euros to pay for the costs of living and lodging.  If you would like to support other patients like Ivan, please donate to our project today!  Your donation will be able to receive additional matching from GlobalGiving and help us earn bonus funds!  

Thanks again for your generosity and support of our efforts! 

For many of us, summer break is over and we are back from our vacations to attend school or go to work.  Some may already be planning their next holiday.  Travel is not only fun, but it's genuinely good for our health and wellbeing.  We hope that all of our supporters had a great time this summer!    

Cancer patients, however, travel for different reasons.  Most often it's to access medical expertise and level of care unavailable close to home.  Sometimes, it's the doctors themselves who tell the patients to try their luck elsewhere, where the resources and possibilities are not as limited.  Ability to accept patients at a short notice is another factor, or having no visa requirements that delay travel plans.  A lot of times, it's the word of mouth, a recommendation from a friend or another patient.  In the former Soviet Union, most patients tend to go to Israel, Germany or Turkey for treatment when no further treatment options exist at home.

Stas, a 14-year old from Ukraine, is one such patient.  In early 2017 he had surgery to remove a tumor.  Local doctors determined it to be benign and Stas had no further treatment.  In March 2019 Stas began having stomachaches and went to see doctors again.  He was referred for comprehensive evaluation, and the scans showed multiple lesions in his lymph nodes.  These were metastases from cancer that was previously misdiagnosed as benign tumor.  Two of the lesions were removed during biopsy, but another one was deemed unoperable.  The doctors had a hard time determining the type of cancer, and Stas’s family decided to take him abroad for further diagnostics and treatment. 

The family flew to Israel where Stas was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of rare solid tumor.  The doctors are giving Stas a good prognosis, but the treatment is costly.  Stas's ability to remain on treatment depends on the kindness of strangers.  He already had surgery that removed all visible metastases, but he still needs to stay in Israel and complete 5 cycles of chemotherapy and 30 radiation sessions, to be followed by maintenance chemotherapy for another year.  

Your donation will ensure that patients like Stas have access to quality cancer care abroad.  It is an unfortunate reality that there is a significant gap in patient outcomes in developed countries and the former Soviet Union.  Traveling abroad allows patients with rare cancers to bridge that gap and improve their chances to beat cancer. 

Thank you for your support!