Max Goes to the World Cancer Congress
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) has been hosting the World Cancer Congress each year since 1933. This year it was held in Malaysia – the first time in South East Asia.
[vc_video link=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckmQNcicoZ0′]
In Vietnam, due to the lack of specialist in rural areas, a significant number of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients with minimal cash in hand must travel hundreds to thousands of kilometers to reach the hospitals in the city. The expenses for the trip itself is already a challenge for many patients let alone the cost of treatment. But today, there are numerous CML survivors who directly benefit from The Max Foundation’s patient access program to receive their cancer treatment at no cost. A living testimony to the success of our program is Lan.
Lan is a young, enthusiastic, Vietnamese woman living in Ha Noi, who refuses to be ordinary. On World CML Day 2017, Lan decided to let her treatment journey story to be heard. Lan was diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia when she was 23 years old. Initially, she was hesitant to share her story with anyone. It was kept within the family, as she was scared, weak and lost. With an attitude “Never give up nor abandon hope” she kept searching and successfully found what she looked for – The Max Foundation’s “magical” patient assistance program that would bring her the necessary CML treatment. 11 years later and the innovative program still supports Lan and many other CML patients in Vietnam.
Today Lan is living a happy normal life. Like other people in Vietnam, she goes to work and contributes to society. Because of the benefits of the patient assistance program, and continued stigma against cancer patients, Lan has started sharing her story – starting with this video.
Lan is forever grateful for the government that acknowledges the importance of patient assistance program. With Lan’s advocacy and our ongoing work, we hope to see other sustainable treatment access programs extended to many other patients in need.
Thao Tang is a MaxStation based in Ho Chi Minh City, who is managing Patient Assistant Program and passionate about supporting cancer patients of Vietnam.
In Guatemala, there are 14,200 new cases of cancer a year and from this amount 9,100 people die of cancer or 64.7%. Most of these diagnoses could have been prevented or better treated if diagnosed early. In Guatemala only the persons who have access to the national social security plan have free services and treatment, but poor quality and lack of medications or in most occasions. People who do not have social security have to pay for health services and for medications. As per statistics taken from Globocan 2008, the most common cancers in Guatemala are prostate, cervix, stomach, breast and lung cancers.
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