November 26th marks the seven year anniversary of the departure of our beloved Ana.
Today we remember Ana, who still motivates us to continue to pursue her dream, which is for the Ana Rukavina Foundation to help those suffering from leukemia, lymphoma and other serious bone marrow damage.
Prior to the start of the Ana Rukavina Foundation’s operations, the Registry of voluntary hematopoietic stem cell donors had a mere 150 donors. As a result of the actions organized by the Ana Rukavina Foundation, currently there are 41,650 people listed in the Registry, of which 39,109 blood samples have undergone tissue typing. Thanks to the expansion of the Registry, until today it has provided the hope of saving 37 lives, for which we are especially happy and proud.
To commemorate the day of Ana’s premature departure, we are inviting you to “Open Heart Day”, which will take place on Wednesday, November 27, 2013 from 10 AM to 6 PM at the premises of the Ana Rukavina Foundation (Kneza Mislava 10/1, Zagreb). All citizens are invited to come and support the action to join the Registry of voluntary hematopoietic stem cell donors. In addition to the visitors joining the Registry, on this occasion we would like to share information with them about the work of the Ana Rukavina Foundation, its goals and the results we have achieved.
The action “Open Heart Day” is just another way for us to remind the citizens that within each and every one of us is the “cure” with which we can treat the seriously ill among us, and that with a positive attitude in life, and the spreading of good energy and faith, together we can do good and save lives. Medical experts from the Registry will explain the importance of joining the Registry of voluntary hematopoietic stem cell donors, and medical experts from the Cord Blood Bank “Ana Rukavina” will inform future mothers about donating cord blood stem cells!
All healthy people between the ages of 18 and 40 can join the Registry by filling in an application form and a medical questionnaire and giving a blood sample for HLA tissue typing, which determines the tissue compatibility antigen.
We look forward to seeing you!