Life-Saving Treatment for Kids in Ukraine

Dear friends,

thank you for supporting kids with cancer in Ukraine!

For us in Ukraine, now is a challenging time of fear and uncertainty. We know from experience that the threat of Russian aggression is real, but we don't know if and when it can happen. The atmosphere is tense, and people cannot feel safe. The kids we help feel this tension from their parents and start playing war games with toy weapons they find in the hospital's playroom and the family house run by us. Just look at the picture below we made one of these days. 

Our kids' families will also be affected by possible war. Little Marichka, you see in the picture, is on treatment in Kyiv for nephroblastoma, a kidney tumor, with her mom. Her dad is a combat veteran of the Russia-Ukraine war in Donbas. Now he stays in their home town supporting the family and taking care of Marichka's elder sister, who has to go to school. He visits Marichka in Kyiv quite often and helps his wife in every possible way. However, he will be deployed to defend Ukraine in case of escalation. And Marichka, who still has to undergo more than 20 chemo cycles, will have to fight for her life without him.

In 2021, thanks to your generous contributions, 469 children like Marichka received the help they needed: medicines, medical supplies for chemo and surgeries, endoprostheses, physical rehabilitation, and psychological support. We don't know what happens later in 2022, but we know that Ukrainian kids with cancer and their families need as many people as possible to be there for them this difficult year.