Children paint the world….
Blue, yellow, red….
Bright sun, sparkling water, puffy snow, colorful flowers….
Children paint the world…
Children with cancer…
The types of cancers that occur in children vary greatly from those seen in adults. The most common cancers of children are leukemias, brain and other nervous system tumors, lymphomas (lymph tissue cancers), bone cancers, soft tissue sarcomas, kidney cancers, and eye cancers. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in children from ages 1 to 14. Although there are exceptions, childhood cancers tend to respond better to chemotherapy. Children also handle chemotherapy better than adults. Because of major treatment advances, 80% of these children will survive 5 years or more. This is a huge increase from before the 1970s, when the 5-year survival rate was less than 50%.
Due to new and improved treatments, the 5-year survival rate for neuroblastoma is now 70%; brain and other nervous systems - 74%; leukemia- 82%; Wilms tumor (kidney) -92%; Hodgkin lymphoma - 96%; and non-Hodgkin lymphoma - 86%. But despite the great strides in treatment and care, more than 5,000 children in Russian Federation are diagnosed with cancer every year and, unfortunately for many of them, those improved treatments and advanced medications are not affordable.
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 Russia does 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 St. Petersburg.
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…
With your help, dear friends! Thank you for your support!
