Un Paso Max, meaning “Un Paso Mas” (One More Step) is a fitting name for a group led by cancer survivors who are willing to take an extra step to help others. Un Paso Max is the name of the CML and GIST patient association in the Dominican Republic. One can trace the origins of this group to a small meeting in 2008. It only took a bit of encouragement and support on the part of The Max Foundation to unlock the passion of a handful of courageous survivors in Santo Domingo, and the seed of a patient association was planted.
By 2009 the core group leaders were able to organize a patient meeting attended by more than 100 survivors and their families. Survivors and caregivers were happy to share experiences and stories with people going through the same situation and living with cancer. Among themselves they decided to become an official group to support each other and be a resource for newly diagnosed patients and their families. Everyone participated in the name selection and the Un Paso Max (One More Step) patient support group was born.
In 2010 Un Paso Max, with the support of volunteers, families and friends, was officially registered as a non-profit organization in the Dominican Republic. This is a very big step and a significant achievement for the group and I want to congratulate all the members of Un Paso Max in the Dominican Republic.
“Un Paso Max is dedicated to providing support and education on leukemia and GIST to patients, caregivers and families. The idea was born out of a few patients supported by The Max Foundation. Today it’s a big group with more than 150 members that can support each other.” the President of Un Paso Max, Claudia Fernandez, informed us.
The board members of Un Paso Max, with the support of their families and friends are leading the survivors into organizing fundraising events and bringing awareness to the local community. Lately, they became known in the region and internationally, when representatives of the group participated in different international conferences. Un Paso Max now has the opportunity to collaborate with other cancer patient organizations in Latin America and to share their experiences and tools to reach their goals.
Un Paso Max works hard to raise funds and help patients with access to diagnostics and treatment and to educate and support patients, families and survivors.
If you want more information of Un Paso Max, below is their contact information:
Fundación Un Paso Max
Claudia Fernandez (President)
Oscar Alberti (Vice-president)
http://unpasomax.wordpress.com
E-mail: unpasomax@gmail.com
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Mercedes lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she uses her Psychology Degree to support patients throughout Latin America.
October is here! And with the changing of the seasons comes the official start of the 2016 Maximize Life Global Cancer Awareness Campaign! Energy and excitement are growing as over 40 Max Global Network partners across Latin America, Asia and Africa prepare to host multiple awareness events throughout the month in an effort to support and raise awareness about the needs of people living with cancer.
When Ka came to Thailand for access to treatment, she had the chance to join the MaxSmiles patient group meetings. Ka started to dream about having her own meetings and soon found support from Dr. Mary Cluck, an Australian volunteer working with Cambodian CML patients. Ka stepped up and called the patients one-by-one to invite them to their first patient meeting.
In Latin America, the Maximize Life Campaign has become something like a tradition – a time when each patient organization creates an event or activity of their choice and powers it up for a campaign that takes on a life of its own!
13 patient groups from 11 Latin American countries joined this year’s movement, bringing together patients and caregivers with the purpose of telling the community that cancer is an issue, that ignoring it is not going to make it go away, and that the best approach is to learn about it in order to know what to do about it. From governments to the general public, everybody can get involved in figuring out how to treat cancer patients as members of society and not as a burden.
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