Sam Sokolinsky via Crowdrise
July 10, 2013
BENEFITING: ADVITA FUND USA
THE STORY:
In the modern world, cancer is no longer a death sentence. Up to 80% of patients can recover and lead healthy lives thanks to advanced medications and latest methods of testing and therapy. Yet in countries in Eastern Europe and Asia, many patients lack access to latest innovations, as they are not available, not covered by state-sponsored insurance or unafordable.
Bone marrow transplants are used to help patients with various kinds of serious illnesses, including leukemia and multiple myeloma. The procedure was first developed in the 1950s, and was first used successfully in 1968. Bone marrow transplants can help patients who have diseases that were once thought to be incurable.
The insufficiency of government financing of medicine and the lack of private health insurance system led to many children’s deaths that could have been prevented. Every year 1,000 children need the bone marrow transplant but only 10% of them undergo the procedure though for all of them it is the only chance to survive. Since these countries do not have its own bone marrow donor registry, patients who need the transplants have to pay over $25,000 for the search for the donor, collection of bone marrow and delivery of transplant to cities like St. Petersburg, Russia or hospitals in Germany.
Advita Fund USA was founded to help improve access to the most effective treatment to cancer patients. Advita's volunteers want to make sure that patients’ lives depend not on their income or birthplace, but on the progress of modern medicine.
We cannot change the situation, but we can help those kids to fight and win… we can give them the world they paint in blue, yellow, red … we can give them the chance to smile at the bright sun, play with the sparkling water, touch the puffy snow, smell colorful flowers… we can give them the most precious gift – LIFE…
More information and ways to help can be found on http://www.advitausa.org
Advita Fund USA is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization.
Note: Pictured are some of the Advita's children who did not survive or currently fighting for their lives.