Dear friends, today we celebrate the eleventh anniversary since our dear Ana is no longer with us. Ana has left behind a great heritage and in nearly eleven years of the Foundation’s work, we tried to accomplish her mission and help the patients in Croatia and in the world looking for matching donors.
Despite the great courage and desire for life, Ana left us on that Sunday morning eleven years ago, and Anna’s words prompted us to fulfill her vision: the development of Croatian Bone Marrow Donors Registry and to assist in the founding of the umbilical cord blood bank today bearing its name.
The memory of Ana and her endless optimism gives us the strength to try our best and decrease the number of “small bald heads” in hospital departments as much as possible.
Since 2006, thanks to all of you who enroll every day, we have increased the number of
enrolled donors in Croatian Bone Marrow Donors Registry from
modest 150 donors to more than 55,000 registered potential donors, of which
53,572 samples were typified, and in the public Bank more than 13,000 families donated stem cells from umbilical cords, of which 3,237 are stored and are registered in the World Register.
Thanks to the expanded Croatian Register, a hope has been given to 78 lives so far
which makes us especially happy and proud, all thanks to the great desire and vision of our Ana and the good people who have decided to give a fraction of themselves to help those who need it the most!