Let's Help More Than 100 Children with Cancer

At the end of November, 2012, Childhood Cancer Fund Rugute celebrated its seventh birthday. The Fund usually commemorates its birthday by some special event, so, a blood drive Share a Droplet took place in Rugute’s Home on the 3^rd of December, 2011. The seventh blood drive campaign was unusual: all who had arrived to donate blood had an opportunity to be included into the bone marrow donor registry. Many children and adults with leukemia have only one way to get well – to receive a bone marrow transplant.  This means that each new person included in the registry becomes a potential life saver. During the blood drive of Rugute, 27 names of potential bone marrow donors were added to the bone marrow donor registry.

Thanks to the loyal sponsors of Rugute, the Fund continues to support families that face financial difficulties due to their child’s illness. Every month the Fund provides such families with financial support and necessary medical supplies. The Fund also provides psychological support by organizing group therapy sessions to parents that had lost their children to oncological diseases. 

One of the most important missions of Rugute is to improve the treatment quality for children with oncological diseases. The Fund, using the money raised via GlobalGiving, was able to purchase more long-term catheters, special access needles and infusion pumps. The long-term catheters help immensely to ensure a better emotional state of a young patient, because by using them painful multiple catheter insertions into the vein can be avoided. The Fund was also able to buy a quantity Ixoten, a medicine that has been shown to be successful in the treatment of oncological diseases, but that is unavailable in Lithuania.

Rugute also provided 20 000 Lt to cover a part of the hyperthermia treatment costs for Julija, a 16 year old rhabdomyosarcoma patient. The girl received this hyperthermia treatment in Germany, since such procedures are not available in Lithuania. The families that arrive to the capital city for screening, and children who are released from the hospital for short periods of time, find a cozy shelter and accommodation in Rugute’s Home, where children can play freely, spend time with their family members, and have a quality rest in a non-hospital environment.

We thank, most sincerely, all of the sponsors of GlobalGiving who donate money to Lithuanian children with oncological diseases. Your assistance allows us to improve the physical and psychological welfare of the little cancer patients… and knowing that you have faith in our mission keeps us moving forward.

Links:

• Rugute Fund.