Charitable Foundation Helping Children with Cancer

The problems of children's oncology are subject of special consideration in the whole world, as a child's life is a sacred notion. In recent years children's oncologists have made significant progress in combating the diseases that earlier used to be incurable.
As a result of proper timely treatment 80% of children diagnosed with lymphoblastic leucosis, 90% with lymphogranulomatosis (Hodgkin's disease) and 90% with kidney tumor recover. More than 50% of children who have cancer can become full-fledged citizens of their country, if they receive timely and qualified help.
The right treatment, though very expensive, can result in a full recovery of a child. Today, there are more than 250,000 people around the world who have recovered from children’s cancer.
In Russia, children's oncology faces many problems that don’t let kids get timely and appropriate treatment.
The major problem: insufficient financing, which means lack of medications and equipment and shortage of qualified medical personnel.
Only a few departments in the Russian Federation comply with modern treatment requirements and are capable of providing expensive high technology treatment and diagnostics.
According to the Russian Health Ministry's data, 3,000 children develop cancer annually. Still this figure is at least by 1,500 less  compared to what epidemiological estimations show. It means that at the first stage, doctors fail to detect 25% of children's cancer cases. Without early diagnosis and treatment, cancer, undoubtedly, is a fatal disease.
A bone marrow transplantation, often the only treatment which can save a child's life, costs from US $20,000 to $40,000. Accordingly, due to insufficient financing transplantation in the Russian Federation is done by 50 times less than a number of cases when it’s needed. In many cases it deprives a child of the only chance to live

According to the Russian Health Ministry's data, the annual number of children developing cancer equals 3,000. This figure implies children suffering from unbearable physical pain, bedridden children and children on operating tables. This figure implies parents whose mental anguish is inconceivable; mothers smiling to conceal pain and fear for their children’s lives; mothers who hope for the miracle of recovery till the last breath of the child.
Do families with cancer affected children receive sufficient help from the state? Unfortunately, they don't. According to a poll of parents conducted by the Children's Oncology Institute, disability pension for children diagnosed with cancer is about 450-600 roubles (US$ 15-20) per month.
These families' financial position is miserable. Those families come from distant parts of Russia and find themselves in a particularly difficult circumstances. Cancer treatment is a long process, lasting from seven months to several years. During this period mothers have no opportunity to work and have to live on miserable allowances they receive. On top of that, due to shortage of funds in Russian hospitals, parents often have to buy expensive medications themselves, plus they need money to nurse their sick children and buy them food. Lack of money for everyday needs is a problem for all these families. The difficult financial position is aggravated by parents' continious stress, caused by the child's disease.