For the fifth year in a row, the Ana Rukavina Foundation will organize the traditional humanitarian Christmas concert “I want life” on Ban Jelačić Square. The students of the Medical School and the Student Union of the University of Zagreb will also organize an action for people to join the Registry of voluntary bone marrow and stem cell donors. On the day of the concert, December 21, 2010, between 12 PM and 4:30 PM, all citizens between the ages of 18 and 50 are invited to come in front of the advent stage to donate blood samples and become potential saviors of someone’s life.
The action to join the Registry of voluntary bone marrow and stem cell donors, called “Students for the Ana Rukavina Foundation”, was started by the Student Union of the University of Zagreb Medical School in mid-October 2010. The primary idea of the project was to bring together the students of Zagreb, the Student Union, a number of other student associations and youth organizations in order to contribute to sensitizing the public, especially the young, regarding saving as many leukemia patients as possible. Thanks to the help of the Registry and the cord blood bank, seven lives have already been saved.
“The main reason behind initiating this action was to teach the young people about the importance of the Registry’s existence in order to help those suffering from hematological diseases. We are especially pleased that our endeavors have the support of the entire Student Union of the University of Zagreb, as well as the support of 24 other student organizations. We thank you all for your help. We hope that the message of this action will go out to as many young people as possible and that by joining the Registry they may one day save someone’s life,” said Matija Čirko, a student at the Medical School in Zagreb.
The student associations and other youth organizations which are taking part in this action to join the Registry are: the CPSA (The Cooperative Pharmacy Student Organization of Croatia) CroMSIC (Croatian Medical Students’ Committee), the magazine ”Manager”, ELSA Zagreb (The European Law Students’ Association), EMSA (European Medical Students’ Association Zagreb), Croatian Academic Athletes’ Association SUBOS, HSA (Croatian Students’ Association), the Rama Youth Association, the City of Zagreb Youth Council, SSHLZ (Student Section of the Croatian Medical Association), Students’ Association Nota Bene, the student magazine ”Medicinar”, the Student Union of the University of Zagreb, UBS (Association of Bosnian Students), Association of (Slavonski) Brod Students, the Duvno Association of Zagreb, as well as the Andrija Štampar Public Health Association.
The work of the stem cell and bone marrow Registry, as well as of the “Ana Rukavnia” Public Cord Blood Bank, will be presented during the action on Zagreb’s main square. Many well-known celebrities will also help the students with their action by selling the Foundation’s promotional materials. All of the proceeds will be used toward HLA tissue typing of blood samples and expanding the Registry. There are currently 33,031 potential donors listed in the Registry of voluntary donors, of which 19,275 blood samples have already been tissue typed.
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The humanitarian action is sponsored by Pliva, as well as partners: HRT, T-HT, The City of Zagreb, Croatian Journalists’ Association, Millenium Promicija, Grey, Croatian Composers’ Society – Collecting Society, Student Union, The Medical School, Hi-tech; donators: B1 Plakati, Tovedo, Klemm Security, Fed, Europlakat, Volkswagen, Nescafe, ABC Rent, Hrvatska Pošta, Print Grupa, MBM; media partners: EPH; media sponsors: Vjesnik, Mamino sunce, Zdrave vijesti, Made IN, Sounguardian.com, Muzika.hr, Javno.hr, Tražilo.com, Žena.hr, Metro-portal.hr, Jutarnji.hr, Dnevno.hr, Dalje.com, Zagrebancija.com, T-portal.hr, Vjesnik.hr, Seebiz.eu, Soundset mreža, Soundset Plavi, Obiteljski radio Ivanić, Radio SVN, Radio Samobor, Radio Velika Gorica, Radio Jaska, Radio Vrbovec, Total FM, Radio Student, Radio 101, Zagrebački radio; telecommunication operators: T-HT, VIPnet, TOMATO; TELE 2, AMIS, Bnet, Metronet, H1 Telekom, Iskon, Optima telekom, Voljatel, Terrakom.