As a result of significant advances in treatment of pediatric cancer, about 80% of children and most young adults diagnosed
with cancer today in USA, Canada, and other developed countries are expected to become long-term survivors. Achieving a cure requires extensive
medical treatment, including multiple rounds of chemotherapy, oftentimes surgery and radiation therapy, and, in some cases, bone marrow transplantation.
Unfortunately, for many Russian kids such treatment is not affordable, especially in complex cases. While pediatric
oncologists in Russia are familiar with the current treatment protocols, financial difficulties often interfere with best medical practices.
Government financing of medicine in Russia is insufficient and private health insurance system is not yet fully developed. The current
worldwide financial climate is making an already difficult situation impossible.
While the government-run medical compulsory medical insurance covers hospital admission and the basic chemotherapy protocols,
many vitally necessary medications and procedures are not included in the coverage. Medications not covered include advanced antibacterial,
antiviral, and antifungal drugs needed to combat life-threatening infections in children whose immune system is compromised as a result of
chemotherapy. In many cases, diagnostic and treatment planning procedures such as MRI and CT scans or pre-treatment simulations for
radiotherapy are not covered either.
Bone marrow or stem cell transplantation, which itself is performed free of charge, requires inevitable additional
expenses: donor search in a foreign register (Russia has no marrow donor bank of its own), followed by donor activation (harvesting and
transportation of bone marrow or stem cell graft) costs about $20,000-$25.000 and this money is not granted by the state. In the case
of a mismatch, cell separation procedure should be performed using sets produced by Mitenyi Biotec Ltd. One set costs $5,500-$11,000
depending on the patient's weight. This sum must also be donated by sponsors because such costs are prohibitively high for most families in Russia.
Many sells their homes, borrow money from friends and family, but even that is rarely enough. Financial support
from donors and charitable foundations become a matter of life and death for those children and young adults.
The situation is even more desperate for children from most other countries of the former Soviet Union
(Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and others). In most cases, sophisticated treatment procedures (such as bone marrow transplant
or radiation therapy) are not available in their home countries and families are forced to seek treatment for their children abroad, usually in Moscow
or St. Petersburg, Russia or Minsk, Belarus where they forced to bare the full brunt of the costs associated with the treatment,
including hospital stay fees (hundreds of dollars per bed-day) and medication costs. With very few exceptions, none of those families
can raise sufficient funds without outside help.
Please, help Help Journal help them. We understand that financial crisis leaves many of us in great financial need,
but these kids and their families are desperate for your support.
