Carmen’s Mother reveals: they assured me that 57357 is applying the latest world treatment protocols, as such I decided to treat her there and make a donation to the Hospital.

I say to every mum of a sick child on the start of the treatment journey: Thank God for the existence of Hospital 57357 in Egypt and its provision of quality care to our sick children. 

In the day-care unit, tens of children are receiving their chemo sessions, each patient lying helplessly and next to him his mother or father hugging him closely as though they would, through this embrace, bear with them some of the pain.

I was specially attracted by the nice gentle smile of a beautiful child named Carmen who bonded with her mother in a very special way … I felt they were more like buddies sharing the same hope, optimism, determination, and contentment in the face of cancer.

As I came closer to them hesitantly, Carmen’s mum encouraged me with a smile to engage in a conversation with them…..

Her name is Mona Rafla. She is a Soprano singer with the Egyptian Opera House. Mona is a sensitive and gentle musician with great faith in God and acceptance of his Will which she succeeded to communicate to her daughter. As for the first days of their encounter with the disease, they both recall them with contentment, praising and thanking God that those days are behind them and that Carmen has completed a big part of the treatment.

“Carmen was an active and sportive girl. She danced ballet, played the piano, and loved to dive. We were on a trip abroad when she first complained of fatigue and exhaustion. Lab tests revealed that she was sick with leukemia and that the treatment journey would last for three years,” her mum tells me. “Thank God, Carmen too has faith in God and in his infinite mercy; she is confident that He will make her well again and that soon she will be back to her normal life and all her activities” she added.

“As for Hospital 57357, this is a grand accomplishment which was the result of great efforts, said Ms. Rafla. “The huge cost of the treatment and care is entirely borne by the Hospital. It is offered for free to all patients on time and with great precision” she adds.

“In 57357, we get to interact with all the members of the multi-disciplinary comprehensive healthcare team including the physician, the nurse, the clinical pharmacist, the nutrition specialist…” explains Ms. Rafla. “I understood the important role of each one of them for ensuring the best outcome for Carmen. I saw how the pharmacist and the physician work closely to adjust medication doses to reduce side effects and ensure maximum benefit from the drug”, she tells me.

Although Ms. Rafla was advised by family and friends to travel abroad for her daughter’s treatment, she sent her files to top world cancer centers such as the St. Jude and the American Hospital in Paris. They assured her that 57357 is applying the latest world treatment protocols; as such, she decided to treat her daughter in her country Egypt and make a donation to the Hospital in support of its humanitarian mission.

She smiled and told me that, 20 days after the start of the treatment and Carmen’s loss of her hair, the whole family including the father, mother and brother shaved their heads in solidarity. She informed me that just a week ago, her hair started to grow again.

“Finally, I need to send this message to every mum of a sick child on the start of the treatment journey: keep the Faith and the Hope”, said Ms. Rafla. “Thank God that you were able to find treatment for him or her. Thank him also for the existence of Hospital 57357 in Egypt and its provision of care to your child and mine and so many more sick children.”

Amazon is the #1 shopping website in America.  It is now possible to shop Amazon, and at the same time, help the children in the Hospital 57357.  Any purchase you make on Amazon, ECN will receive 0.5% of that purchase.  So in reality, you have purchased an item you want, and gave to your favorite charity all in the comfort of your home!

To get started, follow this link to Amazon Smile, search for Egypt Cancer Network 57357, and then proceed to place your order.  By saving Egypt Cancer Network 57357 in your profile on amazon, every time you place an order, a portion goes directly to ECN without any extra steps from you.

Get started now.  Shop and help the children!  Thank you.

http://smile.amazon.com/ch/26-2192003

CCHE 57357 takes pride in being a change agent and an agile, responsive, and learning organization in constant quest for excellence. For every new challenge, we stop to analyze situations and draw insights and conclusions. In the process, we are redefining our strategic choices and our vision, aligning our course of action to meet the requirements of the new definition. The biggest challenge ahead is the fact that we are turning down children with cancer because of overloaded capacity. It will remain as such until we complete our expansion projects

In 2013, the 57357 Institution Boards of Trustees and Directors have undertaken major restructuring to meet the Institution’s increased scope of services and activities for the new expansion projects. The present boards are formed of groups of highly committed diverse eminent professionals representing medicine, education, finance, marketing, and business. It is noteworthy that the mandate of the new boards is twofold. On one hand, to realize the expansion of 57357 from a pediatric oncology healthcare center to a Health Sciences Complex including a Research Institute, a Health Sciences Training Academy, a 350 bed in patient Tower, and a Hospice Care facility. On the other hand, the 57357 Institution is committed to taking a preponderant role in cancer awareness and prevention.

In light of the above strategic choices, board members of our 3 restructured affiliates (CCHE 57357, CCHF, AFNCI) were engaged in revisiting the vision and mission we are set out to accomplish. In doing so, they are in no way modifying the core of the mission we pledge to fulfill which is to provide quality care and cure to all children with cancer for free without any discrimination. Instead, we are shifting the emphasis on the strategic choices of the moment while choosing to raise the standards against which we evaluate our performance. As such, the new vision and mission of the CCHF reads as follows:

Vision: to be an international Icon of change towards a cancer-free childhood

(Notice how we shifted the emphasis to being recognized as an icon of change and how we raised the standard to the international level)

Mission: Building a sustainable foundation to prevent and combat cancer through evidence-based research, smart education and free quality healthcare provided with passion and justice to alleviate the suffering of children with cancer and their families

(Notice how we shifted the emphasis on research to be the first pillar for the success of our mission, and how we labeled education as being smart in echo with the directives of our restructured “Learning andDevelopment” training department.  Finally, notice also that the core of our mission or our raison d’etre remains unchanged which is the provision of  quality healthcare with passion and justice to alleviate the suffering of children with cancer and their families free of charge

“I was impressed by what I have seen in all the different Hospital sections; Egypt will continue being strong as long as it undertakes good projects similar to 57357”

“I would like to thank all Egyptians abroad and Egypt Cancer Network (ECN)for their support to 57357, and ask all of the Egyptians to stand together to execute the Hospital’s new extension”

Welcomed by the Hospital’s VP and Board member, Mr. Mohamed Yassine, the religious leader toured the premises, and spent time in the  out- patient clinics, multi-specialty clinics, the day-care unit, and the clinical pharmacy. During the tour,  he was acquainted with the different operational procedures which allow the Hospital to provide the best care standards  to  cancer patients. He had the chance to chat with the work team in different  departments , and also patients and their families who thanked him for his visit. He also visited some in-patients in their rooms and asked God to heal them; he commended the hospital for  providing important services to lift up the spirit of the patients through setting up play areas and teaching classes. At the end of the visit he thanked the working team for their great effort to serve the patients

“I have visited several healthcare centers in the Arab region; but never have I found this kind of commitment to research work as the one in 57357. The clinical pharmacy is typically a research center by itself. What I have seen today is praiseworthy, my best wishes for continued success to the invaluable 57357 team.”

Those were the words for the Grand Mufti during his visit to 57357.

Addressing all good hearted Egyptians specially the businessmen and the well to do, The Grand Mufti urged them to continue to support the Hospital with their Sadaka and Zakat money as it is embarking on important capacity expansion projects. This expansion is presently indispensable for the Hospital to solve the problem of overstretched capacity due to the increase in demand for its free quality services. “I am confident that with  strong will and determination  we can build more with God’s help” said the Grand Mufti.  In this respect, He also thanked all Egyptians abroad for their support to 57357 through their donations to the U.S. based 57357affiliate, Egypt Cancer Network (ECN) and urged them to stand by the hospital so as to enable it to achieve its expansion and development goals.

Mrs. Maxine Shaw is from England and has been living and working in Sharm el Sheikh for 17 years, as she is fond of Egypt . She now considers herself to be an Egyptian as she is doing many charitable works in many areas for her adopted country .

Moved by the loss of her sister due to cancer , this time, with her Egyptian husband and daughter, she was eager to offer a helping hand to the hospital, which was built by countless Egyptians from many different walks of life to save children from cancer, providing them with  free quality health care and strong hopes for cure .

Touring the Hospital,  she was reassured by the knowledge that this hospital is continually improving its cure rates, which had now grown to 72%. With tears filling her eyes, because of remembrance of the death of her sister from cancer, she bravely toured the hospital.

With a heart full of compassion she asked, ” what kinds of medicine does the hospital lack? ” … Then she said goodbye and left with her family.  After only one hour she unexpectedly came back with a large amount of the required medicines . Moreover, she pledged to promote 57357 through her work in the field of tourism, so people of different nationalities visiting Egypt, can know about 57357 and support its current expansion capacity projects, so that no sick child seeking its quality care is turned away because of the currently overstretched capacity.

A sincere “thank you”, to all our donors , irrespective of your nationality or religious belief. All that matters is being a human with a generous heart, which always just wants to give.

Demonstrating a wonderful solidarity with Hospital 57357’s kids with cancer,  a U.S. local women’s group calling themselves “Sow Many Blessings”, whose members are cancer survivors, crochet special hand-made gifts of love for57357’s kids with cancer in the form of colorful hats. This local group is part of a larger nationwide North American group called “Crochet for Cancer”.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight” , is a quotation from the bible which accompanied the gifts.  God bless everyone whose faith leads them to walk in the  ways of goodness.