Free Accommodation for Kids with Cancer in Ukraine

Dear friends,

thank you for supporting our Center for Children Affected by Cancer Dacha in 2016! We hope that you will be with our kids in 2017 too.

Center Dacha is one of the first places where families go after hearing terrible words from the doctors: "Your child may have cancer". Here they can get free accommodation before they will be hospitalized at the Cancer Institute for treatment if their case is grave or will go for treatment to a local hospital after receiving a precise diagnosis and a treatment protocol. It’s hard for us to understand what these families feel but here at the Center Dacha they meet people who are in the same situation. While children play together in the playroom full of toys and games, their parents speak over a cup of tea sharing their stories and experience. It’s so great when newcomers get support from other families who know "something" about treatment.

For almost a year little Masha’s family had such a role at the Dacha. The girl was ill with teratoblastoma, a malignant tumor of the small pelvis. Masha’s mom Nadia always knew how to listen to the others and if asked to give advice. She knew how to encourage, how to think positive even in a difficult situation. On weekends together with her husband Oleksandr she organized picnics for all Dacha families. They did it for families to distract from their anxieties, to help them understand that their lives go on and their children still need positive emotions.

Masha’s family is an example that one can do everything to save a child. When they went abroad for an examination that couldn’t be performed in Ukraine the doctors recommended them to stay at their hospital for high-quality treatment and they found a way to do it. Now Masha feels good, she goes to follow up visits regularly and she is under a supervision of high level professionals. Now Masha’s family is happy but they still don’t forget about others who need help. This Christmas they sent a big parcel with food, sweets and toys for all families who had to celebrate winter holidays at the Center Dacha. It’s not only support for them but also hope that eventually everything will be all right. And we are always happy when people who received help start helping others themselves.

In 2016 the Center Dacha provided 199 families with free accommodation, 55 of them were newcomers who had just started treatment.  Thank you for your contributions, you make it possible!