ECN Receives Shipment of 100 Joy Jars to be Sent to CCHE 57357

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Jessie Rees, the founder of Joy Jars, spent all of 2011 battling two brain tumors. The daughter of a pastor in California, her wish was to encourage other children like her to “never ever give up” in their respective fights against cancer. It is this catchphrase – shortened to “ NEGU “ – that became the slogan for her campaign to send out Joy Jars, which she fully devoted herself to before her passing in 2012 at the age of just 12 years. The purpose of the Joy Jars, which are gender and age-specific, is to “spread hope, joy and love” to children who are fighting cancer. Each plastic jar is filled with toys and games which empower and strengthen their recipients.

These Joy Jars will be sent over in a shipping container that is being assembled by over 100 volunteers from the organization United to Heal, a humanitarian organization that is stationed at Virginia Commonwealth University. United to Heal collects, sorts and sends shipments of surplus medical supplies to hospitals and institutions in developing countries. United to Heal will also be including medical supplies in this particular shipment, which is destined for our partnering institutions, including Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357.

To date, 25,000 Joy Jars have been sent to children in over 50 states and in 162 hospitals. Joy Jars are distributed free of charge. In their gift-in-kind to Egypt Cancer Network 57357, the Jessie Rees Foundation is sending Joy Jars overseas for the first time. Through the Jessie Rees Foundation, her parents and others continue to give life to Jessie’s dream of spreading joy.

For more information about Joy Jars and the Jessie Rees Foundation, please visit www.negu.org.

 

 

Through the help of Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE) and tens of thousands of Egyptian fans and supporters, Egypt Cancer Network 57357 (ECN) was declared the winner of the 2012 Chase Community Giving Program. With nearly 90,000 votes, ECN surpassed the other contenders by far, with a 30,000 vote gap between ECN’s number of votes and the first runner-up in the competition. ECN was first amongst over 30,000 other participating charities.

In winning this competition, ECN is being awarded a $250,000 grant from Chase Bank. The Community Giving program has been in existence since 2009 and gives out grants to charities and philanthropic organizations in the United States and internationally via a crowd-sourced voting process, soliciting votes from Chase Bank Online users as well as Facebook users.

ECN would like to give its great thanks to Mr. Ahmed El-Oraby, the Chase Bank employee who nominated us for this award. We would also like to thank our many Egyptian fans in the US and abroad who helped vote for us, as well as CCHE, who spread the word in Egypt, and the Asa7be Facebook page, who also heavily promoted this effort.

ECN will be recognized at the NBC American Giving Awards in December along with former Chase Community Giving participants. The grant will be put towards our international fellowship program and other initiatives. Specific dates will be announced shortly. Stay tuned for more updates and information.

For Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Blog on this Partnership, click here.

Representatives from Children’s Hospital Boston (BCH), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE) met last Friday, September 21st, at the Signing Ceremony for the Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center and Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357’s Pediatric Oncology Fellowship. The ceremony was attended by numerous dignitaries from the aforementioned institutions, including the presidents of both BCH and DFCI, as well as Dr. Hany Hussein, the President of the Children’s Cancer Hospital 57357 Foundation (CCHF) and Dr. Sherif Abouelnaga, the VP of Academic Affairs, Research and Outreach at CCHE. Also in attendance were many board members of supporters of the fellowship project, which took over two years of commitment.

BCH, DFCI and CCHE have partnered together to develop this highly-customized joint fellowship program, the first of its kind. The program is designed to teach its fellows the essentials of patient care, performing research in oncology through collaboration with faculty members and mentors while also strengthening the relationship between the American and Egyptian pediatric oncology communities.

The fellowship is designed to improve the pediatric oncology survival rates and outcomes within Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), while simultaneously allowing for a mutual exchange of information, knowledge and experience for both doctors from the region and also from the United States. Participating fellows will have the opportunity to transcend geographic and cultural borders in an effort to learn about pediatric oncology treatment in the MENA region as compared with treatment in the United States, therefore improving their practices through exposure to a multitude of cases and situations which may not be present in their home countries.

By providing a sound education for our global physicians, especially those who treat children and diligent search for a cure for cancer, we are indeed creating a solution to a plethora of problems and ultimately saving lives of children who need their expertise. The creation of this fellowship program between the aforementioned, prestigious international medical institutions is a testimony to the power of cooperation which is essential to world peace and harmony between cultures, and proof that, despite politics, shared goals in healthcare for humanity can unite people everywhere.

 

 

Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center to partner with Egypt Cancer Network and Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt

Creating Egypt-based fellowship training program for physicians from Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa Region

BOSTON – Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center is announcing a partnership with the Egypt Cancer Network and Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt in an effort to improve childhood cancer survival rates and outcomes within Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa. The organizations are collaborating to create an Egypt-based fellowship training program in pediatric oncology for physicians in those regions.

“Since beginning a twinning program between the Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center and the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt in 2006, we have seen significant improvement in the outcome of pediatric cancer patients in Egypt,” said Mark Kieran, MD, PhD, director of medical neuro-oncology at Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center and member of the medical advisory board for the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357’s pediatric oncology fellowship program. “However, there is still a shortage of expertise and resources needed to treat children with cancer in this region.”

“The fellowship is designed to improve the childhood cancer survival rates and outcomes within Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa,” said Kieran. “This collaboration will allow the exchange of information, knowledge and experience for both doctors from the region and from the United States, providing the opportunity for the improvement of treatment and care practices.”

The collaboration will provide a formal fellowship framework for pediatric oncology training and mentoring for Egyptian, African and Middle Eastern pediatricians in line with international standards and will create a pool of qualified pediatric oncologists who can ensure continued progress in improving outcomes for children with cancer in this region.

As part of the fellowship, between 2 and 6 pediatric physicians from the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt will travel to Boston to work with specialists at Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC).  In addition, DF/CHCC physicians will rotate at the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt to train oncologists there in the latest treatments and care techniques.

About the Dana-Farber / Children’s Hospital Cancer Center

Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC) combines the strengths of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a world-class cancer institute, and Boston Children’s Hospital, an internationally known pediatric hospital. For over 60 years, these two Harvard Medical School affiliates have provided comprehensive care for children and adolescents with cancer. Committed to conducting research to better understand and treat childhood cancers, DF/CHCC is the Pediatric Oncology Experimental Therapeutics Investigator Consortium’s (POETIC) only Phase I Clinical Trial site in New England, and is home to one of the world’s most sophisticated and accomplished Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation centers. DF/CHCC also offers comprehensive transitional and long-term survivorship programs to childhood cancer survivors of all ages.

 

ECN recently had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Robert Watson, one of the three co-founders of the charitable organization Songs4Children.The organization, based in Palo Alto, CA, held a unique fundraiser for ECN during this past Ramadan entitled “Hope Sings”. Songs4Children has since made ECN its’ primary fundraising cause.

Songs4Children was begun in the name of using music to raise money for and spread awareness of initiatives which would service children. It was through Songs4Children co-founder Mariam Helmy, who is of Egyptian descent, that ECN was first nominated as a potential cause. Ms. Helmy, in conjunction with co-founder Ms. Sophie Cristal and Mr. Watson, hosted their first opera recital in the early summer of 2012. Since then, they have had two performances, and are working towards hosting their first full opera performance, due to take place in November of this year.

ECN is thrilled to be chosen as Songs4Children’s cause and will be partnering with Songs4Children to continue to spread the word about ECN’s initiatives, all of which are designated towards helping children with cancer in Egypt and the region. Please continue to check our events and our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/EgyptCancerNetwork) for more information about the upcoming show in November and in order to purchase tickets. For more information about Songs4Children, please visit their website at www.songs4children.org.