Download 01.11.2013, Mayfair Times

charity
51
The greatest gift of all
D
iana Zharikova lives in Russia. She is four years old, and her favourite
game is playing doctor – no surprise when you learn that she has been in
and out of hospital for most of her short life. At four months, her parents
discovered a bump under her knee, which tests showed was lymphoma. For
two years, Diana bravely underwent paracentesis, chemo and radiotherapy,
and was finally given the all-clear. But a year later the illness returned, and
due to an allergy to the cancer drug Asparaginase, doctors prescribed her
Erwinase. The problem was, the Russian government doesn’t fund Erwinase,
and at £9,144, the cost was out of reach of Diana’s parents.
The lack of funding for the drug – which is regarded as a last-chance
treatment for children with such cancers – has driven some families in Russia
to desperate lengths, selling their homes and everything they own to scrape
together the money to save their children.
Luckily for Diana’s family, the charity Podari Zhizn (“Give Life”) stepped in,
raising the money for the three rounds of treatment she needed. Diana is
now taking Erwinase, and is in remission. When doctors said she needed a
bone-marrow transplant to reinforce her treatment, the charity also covered
the cost of searches for a compatible donor abroad – another vital service,
since there is no bone-marrow register in Russia.
Podari Zhizn came about in response to Russia’s dire statistics for
childhood cancer: in Western countries, the survival rate stands at 80 per
cent, but in recent times in Russia it has been as low as 50 per cent (it has
since risen to 70 per cent). It began with a group of volunteers who assisted
LYUBA GALKINA, GIFT
OF LIFE TRUSTEE
AND DIRECTOR
doctors treating children with cancer.
But it was the involvement of two of Russia’s most famous actresses –
Dina Korzun and Chulpan Khamatova – that turned the initiative into an
official charity that now raises funds to treat an average of 4,500 children a
year.
“To begin with we only had a staff of 15 and they were all helping the
doctors and patients for free,” recalls Dina. “We had a zoologist, teachers,
journalists, business people and marketing people – people from all sorts of
backgrounds.
“We faced major problems. For example, there was no system for blood
IN RUSSIA, TREATMENT FOR
CHILDHOOD CANCER IS
SUBJECT TO STRICT QUOTAS
AND LIFE-SAVING DRUGS ARE
UNAVAILABLE. NOW, PODARI
ZHIZN AND ITS SISTER CHARITY
GIFT OF LIFE ARE SAVING
THOUSANDS OF SICK CHILDREN
– THANKS TO TWO FAMOUS
RUSSIAN ACTRESSES. NUALA
CALVI REPORTS
donors in Russia, no way of advertising for donors, no places that people
would want to go to give blood – and if there were, they were closed
evenings and weekends. So everything was against our success.”
In Russia, she explains, the government has quotas for the number of
children whose treatment it will fund. “The government pays only a small
percentage of the treatment, and for only a few of the kids who get
diagnosed – they call it a quota, and they wouldn’t even fulfil the quota.
Without the charity, the patients and doctors wouldn’t be able to change the
situation.”
As a Russian Academy Award-winning actress, Dina boosted the profile
of the organisation, bringing more donors onboard and pushing the
government to build a new oncology clinic in Moscow, the best in the
country.
But there were other problems. “Historically, the Russian centre was
buying Erwinase in the UK because it was only available in the UK,” says
Lyuba Galkina, trustee and director of Podari Zhizn’s sister organisation, Gift
of Life, in Britain.
“Before, the drug had to be brought into the country secretly, avoiding
customs, which wasn’t easy because it needs refrigerating. The foundation
charity
52
DINA KORZUN, PODARI
ZHIZN CO-FOUNDER
“To begin with we only had a staff
of 15 and they were all helping the
doctors and patients for free. We
had a zoologist, teachers,
journalists, business people and
marketing people – people from all
sorts of backgrounds”
Dina Korzun
53
organised custom clearance and made it official, so now it’s organised by
DHL.”
But it’s not just equipment, drugs and doctors that are needed. “We help
with psychological support and financial support for families,” says Dina.
“Sometimes cancer treatment takes several years, and as a result of having
to care for their children and take them away for treatment, the parents may
lose their jobs. Meanwhile, the children themselves forget how to live a
normal life.”
Lyuba credits Dina and Chulpan for the charity’s success. “It’s because
the doctors found these celebrities – they go to Putin or whoever, and they’re
unstoppable,” she says. “If there’s a crisis and a child needs something, they
will drop everything and go anywhere to help them.”
Dina has now moved to Britain, and brought Lyuba on board when Podari
Zhizn’s sister charity, Gift of Life, was set up here less than two years ago. In
that short time, they have already raised £1 million.
Everyone involved in Gift of Life, from the designer to the PR, is a
volunteer, and the women now have a huge database of donors that come to
their events – which include an extremely glamorous ball to celebrate the
Russian New Year. To begin with, they held it at the Wallace Collection, but
the 300-person space soon wasn’t big enough, and it is now held at the
Savoy.
Sotheby’s have come on board to hold charity auctions as part of the
fundraising effort, with prizes including a box at Chelsea FC. Next year’s ball
includes performances from the prima ballerina Ulyana Lopatkina and the
London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. There is also a special fundraising screening in Leicester Square this
month of The Land of the Deaf – the film on which Dina and her Podari Zhizn
co-founder Chulpan first met.
To begin with, says Lyuba, Gift of Life’s donors in the UK were mainly
Russians – the majority of them based in Mayfair – but now the cause is
embraced by people of all nationalities.
“Now we can raise funds here as well as in Russia, which makes a real
difference,” she says. “Some of our donors are big organisations, but there
are also many individuals who support us regularly. In Russia, there are lots
of very poor individuals who support us – pensioners are among our biggest
supporters.
“There’s a lot of corruption in Russia, and people don’t trust charities, but
with Gift of Life they feel safe because it’s very well respected and
transparent.”
Which is good news for all of those children who – like Diana – would not
be here today without it.
The Russian Old New Year’s Eve ball is at the Savoy Hotel on January 13. To
reserve tickets, email [email protected] or call 020 7432 6996. The charity
screening of The Land of the Deaf takes place on November 9. Tickets cost
£25 and are available from www.empirecinemas.co.uk.
www.giftoflife.eu
DINA KORZUN
(MIDDLE); CHULPAND
KHAMATOVA (SECOND
FROM RIGHT); AND
LYUBA GALKINA (FAR
RIGHT) WITH GUESTS
AT THE GIFT OF LIFE
OLD RUSSIAN NEW
YEAR GALA AT THE
WALLACE COLLECTION
IN JANUARY 2012