In Lviv, a summer fundraising campaign has begun to purchase a machine for bone marrow transplantation for children with cancer at St Nicholas Children’s Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv.
The initiative has been organised by “Fayni Lyody” and UNBROKEN Kids. From 1 June, all profits from sales of a special “Fruit and Berry” ice cream flavour will be directed towards purchasing a Spectra Optia machine for the haematology-oncology department. The fundraising will continue throughout the summer.
Spectra Optia is an automated system without which it is impossible to fully perform bone marrow transplants in children. The machine passes the patient’s blood through a special system and isolates the necessary cells: stem cells for transplantation; cancer cells when their level in the blood rises sharply and poses a threat to the vascular system; and plasma in cases of severe complications of chemotherapy. All these procedures are carried out with a single machine.
At present, St Nicholas Children’s Hospital does not have its own system for collecting stem cells. As a result, doctors are limited in the number of procedures they can perform and are forced to adapt treatment plans to the availability of equipment. Having its own machine will make it possible to work systematically, without delays, and to help more children.
The haematology-oncology department at St Nicholas Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv is one of the largest in western Ukraine. Each year, more than 1,200 children with oncological and haematological diagnoses are admitted here, including those who have come from active combat zones.
According to WHO data, around 400,000 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer worldwide every year. In Ukraine, childhood cancer is registered in children up to 14 years of age. With timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment, recovery rates for various forms of childhood cancer can reach 90–95%.
UNBROKEN Kids operates on the basis of St Nicholas Children’s Hospital. It is the largest children’s hospital in western Ukraine and, since the start of the full-scale invasion, has become a key facility for more than 80,000 displaced children and has treated over 600 wounded children. It houses one of the largest Neurosurgery Centres in the country, the only Cardiac Surgery Centre in western Ukraine, and the largest children’s burns centre in the west of the country.