More than half a million UAH for neurosurgery for children fighting cancer

On 21 March, the National Children’s Hospital “Okhmatdyt” hosted a solemn presentation of financial aid as part of the memorandum between the Respublika Park shopping mall and the Tabletochki Charitable Foundation. The amount of aid totalled 625,000 UAH and will be used to purchase medicines and supplies for neurosurgical operations for children with cancer. The event was attended by Deputy Ambassador of Austria to Ukraine Anna-Maria Steiner.

Cancer remains one of the most common causes of death among children and adolescents in Ukraine during the full-scale invasion. The war has not put it on hold. Every day, three Ukrainian families learn about this diagnosis in a child. The Tabletochki Charitable Foundation has been helping Ukrainian children and their families at every stage of cancer treatment for 13 years. Every month, 500 children are under the care of the foundation.

Continuous access to the necessary medications, examinations and procedures is extremely important for the successful treatment of children. Due to the lack of resources from the state, hospitals are increasingly seeking help from the Foundation. Therefore, the Tabletochki team is constantly in search of new opportunities to cooperate with partners and donors on a regular basis.

On 14 February, Respublika Park shopping mall and Neopolis amusement park signed a memorandum of cooperation with the charity foundation. Over the course of the year, they will donate 2.75 million UAH for the needs of children with cancer. 625 thousand UAH for neurosurgical operations is the first tranche of the assistance.

“We hold our events together with the Tabletochki Foundation to support charity fundraising for the treatment of children with cancer and support for their families. Childhood cancer is not a sentence, it is curable. Together we are stronger, and we strive to support and inspire each other in this extremely important cause,” said Yulia Shchaslyva, CEO of Respublika Park shopping mall.

“Austria continues to lend financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine, both from the state and the private sector. Okhmatdyt, as the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, has been in the special focus of Austrian support for a long time. I feel very proud to work with our partners. Supporting children with cancer reflects the spirit of compassion and solidarity that is rooted in our culture. This initiative will be a matter of heart for Austria. I am confident that our combined efforts will provide the necessary support and hope for those who need it most. Let this serve as an example for other institutions committed to serving the common good,” said Anna-Maria Steiner, Acting Ambassador, Minister-Counsellor of the Austrian Embassy in Ukraine.

During the full-scale invasion, children fighting cancer found themselves caught between two wars: with the disease and in the country. Cancer treatment is exhausting, expensive and time-consuming. And the war has complicated it with new challenges for families and the foundation. We can’t stop providing help, because timely and ongoing treatment is critical for recovery.

“In 2023, the National Children’s Hospital “Okhmatdyt” and St. Nicholas Hospital in Lviv performed 363 operations on children with central nervous system tumours. Among other things, this was made possible thanks to reliable partners, such as Respublika Park, whom we thank for their support and assistance in providing our wards with everything they need for quality treatment,” says Vyacheslav Bykov, Executive Director of the Tabletochki Foundation.

“At Okhmatdyt, we perform unique and most complex neuro-oncological surgeries on children. Our multidisciplinary team is grateful to everyone who supports the development of this area and allows us to provide the highest level of care to young patients,” says Pavlo Plavsky, Head of the Paediatric Neurosurgery Department at the National Children’s Hospital “Ohmatdyt”.

Singer Svetlana Tarabarova and animators from the Neopolis amusement park also came to support children fighting cancer, bringing gifts from the Antoshka store. Meetings with their favourite stars and heroes bring children not only joy and good mood, but also motivate them to continue the fight against the disease. Such support helps them feel that they are not alone and forget about the difficult daily trials for a while.

Info. Tabletochki is Ukraine’s largest paediatric oncology charity foundation, which has been operating since 2011 and provides assistance to children and their families at every stage of cancer treatment. Over 7,500 families have received targeted assistance since the foundation’s inception. Every month, the foundation takes care of 500 children undergoing treatment in Ukraine and abroad.

Respublika Park is a super-regional shopping mall opened in November 2021 in Kyiv with a total area of 300,000 sq m. The owner of the shopping mall is Trafin Consulting und Entwicklungs GmbH, an Austrian company founded in Vienna in 2013 and operating in the real estate sector. Currently, the shareholder of Respublika Park is successfully represented in the real estate markets of Central and Eastern Europe. Trafin makes significant investments in shopping, hotel and residential complexes in many countries and is a significant participant in the investment sector of the Ukrainian economy as a shareholder of Respublika Park.