In
December, the Gift of Life Cancer Treatment Foundation raised 314,000 euros –
an absolute monthly record for the foundation that proves the great kindness of
the Estonian people.
The
foundation council approved the funding of the treatment of 20 people, 12 of
whom are receiving the foundation’s support for the first time. We also
supported many other people whose decision to treat was made in
October-November. All in all the foundation covered nearly 161,000 euros’ worth
of medical bills.
A gift
of life, a gift of hope
Sometimes
people think that the Cancer Treatment Foundation can, at best, only slightly
extend cancer patients’ lives. But that’s far from true – at best people are
cured with the foundation’s support instead.
Anika
Mõrd, a mother and grandmother from Põlva, told the story of her difficult
fight and great victory to Delfi TV.
Watch
the video here
In December before the holidays we funded the treatment of a
dozen cancer patients with more than 100,000 euros. Some received the support
for the first time, others have been undergoing successful treatments for quite
a while now.
Read about the beneficiaries here
The
story of one of these people, Grandpa Anatoli, was recounted by news portal
Delfi and can be read and watched here.
Many kind benefactors: companies and
young people
The Estonian people were extraordinarily charitable in
December. The Cancer Treatment Foundation was flooded with donations and
charity initiatives. Here are some examples:
· Tartu Mart Reinik School organised fundraising for cancer patients
before Christmas. They sold 1135 of the foundation’s reflectors, held a charity
café and Christmas fair. All in all the kind school community donated 3200
euros to the foundation.
· Sipsik Nursery School in Kohila held a charity event in the run-up to
Christmas, consisting of a café and handicraft fair. They raised 1456 euros to
the foundation.
· In the run-up to Christmas we accepted a donation of 5000 euros from If
Kindlustus insurance company. The company asked its employees whom they would
like to help at Christmas time and the Cancer Treatment Foundation came up on
top.
· Exterior wood products company Thermory supported cancer
patients with 10,000 euros. The company manufactures thermally modified
decking, cladding, floorboards and sauna materials in Harju County.
· Viasat supported cancer patients with 6000 euros.
· Toivo Tänavsuu held a one-hour lecture at Tallinn Municipal
Police Department on the subject of the Cancer Treatment Foundation and its
employees donated 424 euros to the foundation.
· Tradehouse beauty products store’s charity night sale raised 1750
euros for cancer patients.
· The 1300 students of Lasnamäe Gymnasium raised more than 2000 euros for
cancer patients during their charity Christmas fair.
· A charity Christmas concert was held in Viimsi Hobby Centre, where
singers Ariadne and Martti Hallik, singers from Ita-Riina Music Studio, dancers
from Kaie Kõrb Ballet Studio, JJ-Street, Irish dance group and children from
Piret Kõõra dance club and Tallinn Dance School participated. All in all 1200
euros was raised for the Cancer Treatment Foundation.
· Employees of
car safety equipment manufacturer Norma voluntarily gave up their Christmas
gifts and asked the company to donate the gift money to cancer patients
instead. It is the second time they have done so. And so the
company made a donation of 12,405 euros to cancer patients on behalf of their
827 employees.
· Gerli Liivet, the vice president of the Estonian Nurses Association,
handed Toivo Tänavsuu, the head of the Gift of Life, a donation of more than
1500 euros from Estonian nurses.
· 2nd to 4th
grade students of Saue Gymnasium spent a whole week baking all kinds of
delicacies at their homes and selling them at recess. Their charity event
raised more than 2300 euros for cancer patients.
· For several years in a row Ekspress Media has given up Christmas
presents and instead has made a donation to cancer patients, making them a gift
of precious and valuable time. A member of the Ekspress Media board, Urmo
Soonvald, handed us a cheque for 5000 euros.
· The
visitors of the Saku Suurhall Arena’s grand “Christmas Gala” donated
nearly 2100 euros to the foundation. Each
benefactor received a Disney movie music CD by way of thanks.
Inglite
aeg charity programme helped two cancer patients
The
Inglite aeg charity programme broadcast on 18 December on TV3 raised funds for
five people in need, two of whom – a family man named Erik and a grandmother
named Irene – are supported by the Gift of Life Cancer Treatment Foundation.
128,476 euros are given to the foundation for supporting cancer patients,
ensuring continued crucial treatment for Erik and Irene.
Read
more about the programme here
See Grandma Irene’s story here
See
Erik’s story here
Summaries of the year, plenty of interviews
and articles
Toivo Tänavsuu gave an interview to journalist Mihkel
Kärmas in Aasta säravaimad tähed programme on ETV.
May this interview be dedicated to all the gifts
of life and people, who were either part of or moved by the Cancer Treatment
Foundation’s mission in 2017. Check out the interview here
TV3 channel made a substantial summary of our activities in
2017. Watch the clip here
Delfi news portal made a timeline of our activities in
2017. The result was an exciting month-by-month overview of the foundation’s
activities. Check out the timeline here.
Delfi
also published an article about Katrin Kuusemäe, the CEO of Gift of Life. Read
the article here.
Toivo Tänavsuu talked about the Cancer Treatment Foundation
on the Huvitaja radio program. Listen to the program here.
The foundation’s leaders Katrin Kuusemäe and Toivo
Tänavsuu discussed charity and funding of treatments on the Vikerraadio
Reporteritund radio program. The head of the Children’s Hospital Foundation,
Inna Kramer, and producer of Jõulutunnel charity programme, Ene-Maris Tali,
were also in the studio. Listen to the program here.
Eesti Päevaleht: Why are cancer treatment
medications so expensive?
Eesti Päevaleht newspaper raised a serious issue in December:
the price of medications. We wrote in our commentary that the foundation
battles every day to ensure the maximum discount from pharmaceutical companies
and to make the best use of the donations.
Read the articles here and here.
Read
the Cancer Treatment Foundation’s commentary on the price of medications here.
Two recognitions
The editorial staff and readers of Meditsiiniuudised
newspaper elected Toivo Tänavsuu, the head of the Cancer Treatment Foundation,
Medicine Influencer of the Year 2017. Jevgeni Ossinovski, the Minister of
Health, came in fourth according to the survey. Read the story here.
Kodukant village movement and President Kersti
Kaljulaid acknowledged the Cancer Treatment Foundation in Lihula for including
volunteers. Find out more here.
Estonian waffle baking record was broken 🙂
In the
run-up to Christmas, volunteers of the Gift of Life Cancer Treatment Foundation
made nearly 4000 waffles with the help of Vahvlihaldjad
Café. The boxed waffles then made it to the gift
bags of companies and institutions, which together donated nearly 20,000 euros
to cancer patients. Read more here and here.
We
extended the possibilities of donating
You can now visit our website and have your donation added to your phone bill. It’s really
simple: just enter the amount of your donation and your mobile number.
Customers of Elisa and Tele2 can make
donations of up to five euros with the click of a mouse. Larger donations
and/or donations made via the Telia mobile network need to be confirmed with an
SMS.
The service works in all networks. The amount
of the donation is added to your phone bill the next month. The service fee is
5%.
The technical solution for microdonations was
made by Zlick, an Estonian start-up, who made it work in cooperation with
Sviiter creative agency.
You can now make a donation by bankcard in
Circle K stations in addition to cash donations. Just ask the cashier to add
the donation to your receipt. Find out more here.
You can still purchase the foundation’s reflectors
We would like to remind you that until the
end of January you can buy the Cancer Treatment Foundation’s charity reflectors
from Selver, Prisma, Rimi Hypermarket and Stockmann stores and Circle K
stations. They serve as double life-savers – they make you visible in the dark,
thus saving your life, and buying them gives extra days to cancer patients. A
reflector costs €1.99.
Want to support cancer patients with the gift of life?
On our website you
can use bank links to become a regular benefactor within seconds. You can also
donate online using your mobile phone – the donated sum is added to your phone
bill.
Click here
for bank details.
You can sign up for our newsletter via info@kingitudelu.ee
We
wish all the foundation’s benefactors and fans a charitable and happy New Year!
Katrin
Kuusemäe
The
CEO of the Gift of Life Cancer Treatment Foundation
Toivo
Tänavsuu
The
head and founder of the Gift of Life Cancer Treatment Foundation