On the occasion of World Lymphoma Awareness Day, the Ana Rukavina Foundation and the Croatian Leukemia and Lymphoma Association organized a number of activities on Cvjetni Trg in order to raise public awareness of this difficult, and unfortunately, not so uncommon disease. Educational presentations for the citizens, which were held in the Cultural Information Center, were given by some of the most qualified experts in the field of hematology in Croatia: Professor Igor Auer, MD, PhD, from the University Hospital Center Zagreb, and Professor Slobodanka Ostojić, MD, PhD, and Ljiljana Pomper, BSN, from the Merkur University Hospital.
“Lymphoma is the most common form of cancer of the lymph tissue, which plays an important role in fighting infection because it is an integral part of the body’s defense system. There is no program in place to help detect this disease in its early stages, therefore the only way of detecting lymphoma early is through education and raising public awareness of lymphoma as one of the less familiar diseases. It is extremely important to recognize the symptoms of this disease early on. With an early diagnosis, and adequate treatment, lymphoma can successfully be cured,” said the medical director of the Foundation, Dr. Mirando Mrsić.
In addition to information booths on Cvjetni Trg, there was also an action to collect blood samples for tissue typing and to join the Registry of voluntary bone marrow donors. There were 60 new donors from Zagreb who joined Ana’s big family.
“I am proud that in a little less than three years the Ana Rukavina Foundation has done so much in the area of raising public awareness regarding the malignant diseases leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. I am also proud that the Croatian Registry, which the Foundation has expanded to include more than 32,000 donors, has already saved two lives,” added the director of the Foundation, Mrs. Marija Rukavina.