Ana Rukavina Foundation
About Ana Rukavina Foundation
In November 2006, Croatia witnessed exceptional generosity and kindness expressed by many individuals, associations and companies, which rallied around a common goal: to return hope to the life of a young woman.
"I want life!" - wrote Ana Rukavina Erceg and moved the Croatian public. This sincere plea for help from the 29 year old Vjesnik journalist, who was undergoing treatment for leukaemia, left nobody indifferent. The campaign, "I want life!" was launched in order to help Ana purchase the expensive medicines she needed and eventually go for treatment to the United States. A great number of good people responded whole-heartedly and donated generously. Once again, Croatia showed that where there's a will, there's a way.
Despite all the efforts of the medical team, the "dear nurses" as Ana called them, despite her personal courage and her will to live, Ana left us one Sunday morning, but her words have remained as an eye-opener. They have drawn our attention to all the people around us who are also undergoing treatment for an all too common illness, prompting us to think about their families and friends who have no way of obtaining the help and support they need in these demanding and difficult moments. Ana left us with warm and happy memories, but also with the mission to do our best to reduce the number of "little bald heads" in hospitals.
In Croatia, the system for voluntary bone marrow donations is not sufficiently developed and the number of donors in the existing Croatian Registry inadequate. Before the Ana Rukavina Foundation's campaign was launched, the donors were mainly the family members of the sick. In the event that the patient can't receive bone marrow from one of their closest blood relatives, the search for a donor starts outside of Croatia. It is a lengthy procedure that may take up to six months.
At the same time, the process of tissue typing to join the Registry as a potential bone marrow donor is extremely simple and free of charge for the donor. Having given a blood sample at the Institute for tissue typing, or during one of the Foundation's campaigns, you too can save someone's life. All that's needed is to develop the existing Registry of bone marrow donors and create a stem cell bank.
Many citizens helped our Ana in those days. They have encouraged us to help other people who are being treated or will be treated for this malignant disease, and to offer support and information to their families and friends. Any one of us could find ourselves on the list of those in need. That is why we are inviting all the citizens of the Republic of Croatia to join the Foundation's humanitarian campaigns.
Ana's e-mail, which started to circulate at the end of last year, showed that there is a great deal of human kindness among us. We believe that by joining forces we will surely succeed in expanding the Registry and creating the bank and thus answer the prayers of those who are suffering silently, in their hospital rooms, wishing for nothing more than the chance of an ordinary life.
In the period from July 16th to August 16th 2010, 1000 new potential donor samples of bone marrow and stem cells have been tissue typed using the DNK method for HLA (HLA - Human leukocyte antigen) A, B and DRB1! more »
700 new donor blood samples have been tissue typed. The Registry now lists 15,875 HLA tissue typed donors which are able to be searched for genetic compatibility and tissue tolerance between the donor and the patient who is awaiting bone marrow transplantation for treatment. more »
Among the winners of the Top Scholarships, the Foundation’s volunteer, Neven Mihić, received special recognition: the “Top Scholarship Ivo Pukanić” award, bestowed by the collegium of the editorial board of Nacional in honor of the late Ivo Pukanić, who was one of authors behind the idea for the entire project. more »
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