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„Krwinka” Foundation

Every disease requiring hospitalisation changes our lives and forces us to revalue our priorities. Matters which we have had to deal with so far are pushed into the background, some turn out to be trivial, others – merely urgent. It’s a cliché to say that deciding to fight with a serious disease like cancer, undergoing numerous medical examinations and treatments, struggling with inconveniencies, pain and our own emotions as well as emotions of our family and friends are a challenge hard to cope with... It’s even more difficult if we take the condition of the Polish healthcare system, lack of money and reforms, continuous disputes and conflicts into account, which cause that what is good for patients is never most important. When such a patient is a child all shortages and deficiencies present in Polish hospitals and outpatient clinics seem even more striking and unacceptable… Parents of children suffering from oncologic diseases, whose treatment very often takes several years, are perfectly aware of these problems. Intensive and support treatment lasts on average 2 years. Solid tumours are usually treated from half to one and a half years, while treatment of leukaemia takes two to 2,5 years. Next 5 years are connected with the possibility of disease reoccurrence.

„Krwinka” Foundation („Blood Cell” Foundation) was established in 1996 on the initiative of parents. Based on personal experiences, the Foundation - since the very beginning – has been responding to the most important needs of the youngest patients of oncologic clinics. This public benefit organisation focuses on providing help and support to children and hospital units treating youngest patients with oncologic diseases. Such help and support is obviously varied, similarly to how huge the needs of children taken care of by the Foundation are. Foundation activity includes: individual help for children oncologically sick, supporting their families, financing or co-financing of medical equipment (for diagnosing, treatment and rehabilitation) purchasing, modernization of children’s oncology wards and gathering over new marrow donors. This activity is realized in 4 long-term programs:

• „Improvement of medical treatment conditions for children with oncologic diseases”,
• „Help for children with oncologic diseases and their families” – especially help for parents who are in critical situation and need understanding and psychological support,
• „Heightening of public knowledge in the range of oncologic diseases”,
• „Marrow Donor” – author’s program directed to gathering potential marrow donors from all over country.

The Foundation is the initiator of many campaigns informing about cancer and promoting transplants and donating bone marrow, as well as plays the role of an intermediary in providing children and their parents with free-of-charge legal advice.

MANAGEMENT:

„Krwinka” Foundation has its headquarters in Lodz, Poland, but it operates on the entire territory of the country. Ms. Elzbieta Budny is the Foundation President. Functions of vice-presidents are fulfilled by Beata Zalewska-Szewczyk, M.D. Ph.D. – specialist in children oncology and haematology, and Ms. Krystyna Jordan.

VOLUNTEERS:

A child subject to many weeks or even months of treatment needs the presence of kind people who can provide them with emotional support. Some patients come from distant places and in many cases cannot count on the most required presence and support of family – parents, brothers and sisters... In order to meet this need, which plays a vital role in the success of treatment, „Krwinka” Foundation delegates volunteers, who help and spend time with the sick children. Such people are educated to support a child, build positive emotions and hope for successful recovery, as well as organise and spend free time on playing (individually or in a group), reading or simply talking.

FACES OF THE FOUNDATION

The Foundation’s employees and patients have their own day – „Congress for the Recovered and Patients Undergoing Cancer Treatment”. The Congress includes meetings of children who are currently undergoing medical treatment and those who have recovered with Polish medicine authorities, artists, sportsmen and sportswomen as well as celebrities. Participation of domestic celebrities is a significant motivational factor for every organisation operating mostly thanks to voluntary donations. Celebrities’ involvement or simply appearing during an event organised by a public benefit foundation draws the attention of the public to the aims and operations of this organisation and encourages supporting it. Popular actor Bartosz Opania is the ambassador and „face” of „Krwinka” Foundation in media and during domestic or local events organised by the Foundation. Besides Bartosz Opania, the following actresses and actors have appeared (only in the last two years) in advertising spots and at events organised by „Krwinka” Foundation: Joanna Liszowska, Anita Sokolowska, Jacek Kawalec, Piotr Zelt, Lukasz Ploszajski, model and TV presenter Ilona Felicjanska, music stars: Marta ”Mandaryna” Wisniewska, Marek Koscikiewicz with his band, Papa Dance, and sportsmen: Przemyslaw Saleta, Jozef Mlynarczyk and Tomasz Iwan.

HOW CAN I HELP?

There are several of ways of supporting the operations conducted by our Foundation or directly participating in them. Every person can contribute 1% of their income tax for the benefit of the Foundation. It’s worth to make use of this option when settling your income with a tax office. Moreover, the mechanism of contributing the 1% of tax has been simplified this year. You only need to enter the full name of „Krwinka” Foundation and its KRS (National Court Register) number on your tax return and a proper tax office will make the payment for you. This year, taxpayers making use of the 19% linear tax rate can also become sponsors of our Foundation. You can also support the operations of „Krwinka” Foundation by making a contribution directly to its bank account – a natural person can contribute 6% of their income for such purpose, while a legal person – up to 10%. Sensitive and responsible people who do not want to be indifferent to the fate of suffering children are encouraged to support the Foundation as volunteers. Probably the most precious form of support is the possibility for adults under 30 to become donors of bone marrow. In this case, age is important because a dozen or so years may pass between the moment a decision to become a donor is made and the day of collecting bone marrow. When bone marrow is collected, a donor cannot be older than 50 years old. Apart from proper age of a donor, general good health condition plays an essential role. Bone marrow transplant is a highly effective method of treating cancer (e.g. leukaemia). In some cases, it is the only method which can be used. In 2005, the Foundation introduced its original programme entitled „Dawca Szpiku” (Marrow Donor). The programme is realised cyclically in cooperation with local oncology clinics – every few months in different regions of Poland (so far, five parts of the programme have been organised – two in the Lodzkie and Podlaskie province and one in Pomorskie province). During one such campaign, up to 500 people made a declaration to become bone marrow donors. Obtaining as many donors as possible is essential because finding a donor with identical combination of HLA antigens is very difficult – compatibility oscillates between 1:100 and 1:1,000,000. „Krwinka” Foundation finances genetic examinations, which serve to establish HLA tissue compatibility of people ready to become donors. Moreover, it’s vitally important to introduce the data into the international Bone Marrow Donor Registry (gathering blood samples, introducing and keeping one donor in the Registry costs 250 EUR).

Contact with our Foundation:

Foundation for Children with Cancer Diseases „Krwinka”
KRS (National Court Register): 0000 165702
ul. Rewolucji 1905 r. nr 9
90-273 Lodz, Poland
tel. (+4842) 661 80 52, tel./fax (+4842) 682 60 40
e-mail: fundacja@krwinka.org
website: www.krwinka.org
bank account numbers:
Nordea Bank Poland no.: 33 1440 1231 0000 0000 0184 1262
mBank no.: 87 1140 2004 0000 3702 3632 3919