[above, live from Kyiv]
I'm trying to help pitch an urgent story about Ukrainian kids diagnosed with cancer who are still in-country. But don't know anyone in the media...
Story points:
1. Ukrainian kids diagnosed with pediatric cancer. Recovery rate can be 80+% with the right, advanced care.
2. Same kids, served by a gov't-managed health-care system that's less than perfect ... and distracted by Putin's war. Often, expensive medicines and other cancer treatments come out of parents' pockets. Those same pockets are mostly not deep. A charity named Tabletochki ("little pill"), established more than a decade ago, covers the costs through fundraising. They are "amazing," according to a top Canadian consultant who worked closely with them for several years. I've had a Zoom with them this past week (volunteered to help with their case development). It was an inspiring, wonderful, joyful meeting (except maybe for the part where I realized they speak and write better colloquial English than I do).
3. Tabletochki enjoyed heavy support from average Ukrainians; their compassionate gifts annually covered 90% of the treatment costs.
4. Then Putin invaded.
5. Then pretty quickly 16 million+ Ukrainians hit the road or the trenches. Tabletochki's reliable donor base disappeared, the biggest European refugee crisis since World War 2. Donors turned into refugees living from suitcases.
6. The Tabletochki foundation still ensures first-world cancer treatment for Ukrainian cancer kids (they're involved with 600+ families right now) ... but there's a hole in the charity's annual budget, thanks to Putin's war. This year, Tabletochki needs to go global ... at least until Putin's atrocity ends. The goal isn't all that high, as campaigns go: about $2 million in outside compassion to cover the country's pediatric cancer-care costs through the next 12 months should do the trick.
Advice, my friends?
And thank you ... your noodling helps!!! They're working on their plan. And, as I said before, they are "amazing."