Every year there are 1,700 cases of cancer among children in Ukraine. Half of them die. Statistics are faceless, but hidden behind them are children’s lives cut short, parents’ tears, and suffering. Viktoria, a 12-year-old girl from Kyiv, paints beautiful pictures while she waits for a miracle. Her drugs cost 60,000 hryvnias. A similar amount of money has to be raised to pay for spinal transplant surgery abroad. This operation can save the life of Sashko, a cheerful boy from Donetsk with leukemia, and two-year-old Danylko from Vinnytsia, who is only starting out in life.
Professor Serhii Shalimov, M.D., director of the Institute of Oncology at the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine (AMN), says that treating children with cancer depends on a timely diagnosis: the earlier the disease is detected, the better the patient’s chance of recovery: “A number of parents of children with cancer believe that their children must be treated abroad, even though Ukraine has every capacity to effectively combat such diseases. With our medical knowledge we can treat cancer in accordance with all international standards. But our road to success is sometimes blocked by the lack of equipment. In Europe the percentage of children dying of cancer is considerably lower than in Ukraine; this is explained by the fact that they have equipment that can diagnose cancer at an early stage.”
The Petro Poroshenko fund and the Ukraine, I’m for You! Charitable Foundation have launched a project entitled Save My Life!, which is aimed at raising funds to purchase a multipurpose flow cytometer BD FACSCalibur for the Children’s Department of the AMN’s Institute of Oncology. This project is now underway in Ukraine. Doctors say that this device will increase the effectiveness of cancer treatment by 75 percent, but it costs 196,000 dollars (US). To date some $70,000 has been collected.
To boost the fund-raising campaign, Channel 5 held a telethon on Friday, Nov. 16, featuring well-known physicians, government officials, businessmen, and journalists from The Day. During the four-hour show the participants urged Ukrainians to donate to the noble cause of helping to save sick children by sending SMS messages (#216; each phone call or SMS message cost UAH 5.0 plus VAT). Nearly 6,000 SMS messages, along with donations from people who called on fellow Ukrainians to contribute to this cause, were sent. Among the contributors were Petro Poroshenko, the head of a foundation that bears his name; Olympic calisthenics champion Stella Zakharova; Ukraine’s popular TV host Anatolii Borsiuk; Dr. Serhii Shalimov; Larysa Lavreniuk, head of the Fund in Aid of Children with Cancer; Liudmyla Suprun, chairperson of the board of the Ukrainian Peace Foundation; former health minister Mykola Polishchuk; and Yurii Husiev, member of the board of Ukraine, I’m For You!
Television host Anatolii Borsiuk is convinced that charity must become part of Ukrainian VIPs’ image. That’s the way it is in many developed countries: if you donate to charity, you are respected in society; if you don’t, you are nobody - no matter how rich you are. “To become donors, people must be certain that their money will be channeled into charitable projects, because there are many cases where money collected for charity is simply stolen. To prevent this, charitable foundations must account for every hryvnia collected or spent.”
Social psychologist Oleh Pokalchuk is convinced that if giving to charity becomes the norm in our society, this will create positive energy that will change our nation’s life for the better. Human psychology is such that when a person does a good deed, s/he expects a response. Therefore, the number of philanthropists in Ukraine will increase considerably if donors know where their money is going. Raising funds under the pretext of large-scale “streamlined” programs leads to both abuses and public distrust.
“No country can fully subsidize the treatment of children with cancer, so in many countries the law envisages tax concessions for businesspeople who donate to this cause. The time has come for us to introduce this innovative practice,” says Hryhorii Klymniuk, a departmental head at AMN’s Institute of Oncology.
Charity, benevolence, and care for fellow humans will form man’s spiritual world, a sense of empathy. A few hryvnias may save someone’s life.
Join this charitable action by sending donations to the following bank account: EDRPOU 35137539, Kyiv Office ZATKB Pryvatbank, MFO 380269, Account #26006056200011, “Charitable Financial Aid for Diagnostic Equipment, Children’s Department, Institute of Oncology, Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine.”
