Dear friends, in memory of Ana’s early departure, Ana Rukavina Foundation this year organizes the “Open Hearts Day”, which will be held on Friday, November 23rd, 2018, from 10 am to 6 pm in the premises of the Foundation (Ulica kneza Mislava 10/I, Zagreb).
We invite you to join us and support the action of registering in the Croatian Bone Marrow Donors register to which all citizens are invited. With the event “Open Hearts Day”we remember our Ana and her early departure 11 years ago and to honor her, we want to remind citizens that stem cells, which all of us carry inside, are a “cure” with which we can cure hard-working people in Croatia and abroad.
All healthy individuals aged between 18 and 40 can be enrolled in the Croatian Register. The procedure of enrollment consists of filling in the application form and the health questionnaire and giving a blood sample for HLA typing that determines tissue susceptibility antigens. By entering the Croatian Register,
our fellow citizens show solidarity with the needy and confirm that they may, perhaps, seemingly with little contribution, save lives.
Thanks to numerous donors during the past 12 years, the Croatian Register has increased from the initial 150 to the current 60,404 potential donors of stem cells. Up to now, thanks to the Croatian Register, 96 persons from Croatia and abroad received a new opportunity for life, and in the public bank of the umbilical cord Ana Rukavina, more than 15,000 families decided to donate umbilical stem cells, of which 3,387 were reported in Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide.
Guided by new goals and the wish to provide the best quality medical care to the patients in our country, since 2014, Ana Rukavina Foundation has allocated funds for vocational training of young doctors from hematology and other related specialties. So far, five young doctors have been given the opportunity to be trained in the best global and European clinics.
The results are what we are proud of and what encourages us to continue working tirelessly.
We are looking forward to your arrival!