Monday, February 21, 2011
Help to save a life!
Aakriti Ale Magar is a 3 year old girl from Pokhara. She has been spent the last month in the Cancer Hospital in Barathpur after she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Her father works as a taxi driver in Pokhara. Her mother has no job, as she is currently looking after her daughter in the Cancer Hospital, sleeping in the corridors of the hospital. With only one income, the family cannot afford the expensive treatments required to fight against cancer.
Aakriti needs an intense treatment of chemotherapy and heavy medication during the next 36 months. She had spent her first month in the hospital. The treatment is especially intense (and expensive) during the first 6 months, where she will receive chemotherapy treatment. After that, Aakrita will be able to come back to Pokhara. But there are many steps still on her fight for life.
After those 6 months there is still a huge risk that the treatment will fail. Most families cannot afford the medication and continuous travels to Barathpur. After the chemotherapy is finished, most parents think their child is cured and stop the treatment due to the high cost.
If you wish to collaborate with Aakriti cause, please follow the link below:
http://www.butterflyfoundation.org/donate.php
You can also collaborate by purchasing the book Children of Pokhara. Most of the profits of the book will be dedicated to Aakriti under the campaign 'Help to save a life'. (see the next post to watch the book online and purchase it)
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Learn about ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia)
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), is a form of leukemia, or cancer of the white blood cells characterized by excess lymphoblasts.
ALL is most common in childhood with a peak incidence at 2–5 years of age, and another peak in old age. Malignant, immature white blood cells continuously multiply and are overproduced in the bone marrow. ALL causes damage and death by crowding out normal cells in the bone marrow, and by spreading to other organs.
The overall cure rate in children is about 80% in high develop countries but being fatal in as a little as a few weeks if left untreated. ALL is the most common cancer in children, representing 23 percent of cancer diagnoses among children younger than 15 years of age.
Chemoterapy is the initial treatment of choice. Most ALL patients will receive a combination of different treatments. There are no surgical options, due to the body-wide distribution of the malignant cells.
The specific drugs used for chemotherapy are different for the various subtypes of ALL and are not the same for all patients. Treatment for children with ALL is complex and involves multiple drugs given in precise schedules over a period of two to three years. Because of this, children with the disease should be treated by doctors with experience and expertise in the treatment of childhood leukemias.
The chance of survival for children with ALL is dependent upon a number of factors. The most important factor is receiving optimal care at a center experienced in the treatment of children with ALL. Even with optimal care, some children with ALL are much more difficult to treat successfully than others.
For more information:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/sites-types/all-in-children
Aakriti Ale Magar needs your help
She was diagnosed as Acute lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and she is undergoing treatment at Pediatric and adolescent encology unit in B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Bharaptur, Nepal.
She is just 3 years old and she will require a severe treatment during the next 36 months. She was diagnosed in late December 2010 and has been in the Cancer Hospital in Bharatpur since then. She should receive chemotherapy for the next 5 months, the most critic period in her fight for live and unfortunately as well the most expensive.
Acute Leukemia has high percentage of success among children in the most develop countries, but unfortunately doesn't work in the same way in Nepal. Most children are not even diagnosed on time and even if diagnosed on time, families cannot afford the expensive treatment. There is no public health or social help for this kind of issues in Nepal.
The family of Aakrita is one of many that cannot afford the treatment to fight against Leukemia. Please follow our blog to learn how you can help.
Namaste and Welcome to Butterfly Foundation Nepal Blog
Welcome to Butterfly Foundation new blog. With the creation of this new blog, we aim to introduce you the projects currently run by Butterfly Foundation, we want to keep you update of all our initiatives, problems affecting Nepal and how you can help.
Butterfly Foundation is a non-profit Nepal charity that supports under privileged and low income families in Nepal, based in Pokhara.
Established in 2003 by Govinda and his family and supported by the Butterfly Lodge, we carry our charity work in Nepal to provide children schools, educational and social support to the families that most need it, those who live in the hardest conditions.
We work directly with the local communities to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. Through child sponsorship in Nepal we aim to give our children the access to education, that will help lift them out the poverty trap. We seek to help and to be helped to ensure that poor people can improve their lives and livelihoods.
The butterfly Foundation main site will provide you more information about the objectives, strategy, past projects and background information.
www.butterflyfoundation.org