Dear friends,

We invite you to participate in an important event: a new Oncohematology Department of the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital (Moscow, Leninski pr. 117) will be opened after a major repair on January 22, 2003, 2 p.m.

We are whole-heartedly grateful to everybody who was together with us during the reconstruction of the department, to everybody who was not frightened by financial and organization problems, who believed that this department is vitally necessary for the hospital and for the suffering children.

A striking coincidence: the department will be opened on Father Alexander Men's birthday. It is on his initiative that the Help Group started working at the RCCH 13 years ago. The reconstruction of the department was successfully completed owing to joint efforts of the Contacts group (a German public organization headed by Eberhard Radzuweit), members of the Alexander Men Help Group, and Russian benefactors.

Treating malignant diseases in children is one of the most important problems in present-day pediatrics, because these diseases, absolutely fatal if untreated, are curable in most cases if an adequate therapy is provided. The most frequent forms of cancer in children are malignant diseases of the blood and immune system, namely, various forms of acute leukemias and lymphomas. About 1500 new cases of these infant tumors are annually recorded in Russia.

However, one should not be discouraged by these figures. Indeed, the achievements in treating oncological and oncohematological diseases in children are impressive. About 80% of patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia and various kinds of lymphomas and about 50% of patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia may be saved today. Such a success is comparable to the invention of vaccination or the discovery of antibiotics. However, such diseases may be successfully treated only if the treatment technology is strictly observed, and this is possible only in specialized departments.

Therefore, it is an event of national importance that the major repair of a new oncohematology deparment at the RCCH has been completed and this department, fully matching the contemporary requirements, is being opened. It is even more important considering that children from all regions of our country, suffering from the most serious and complex forms of oncohematological diseases, will be treated at this department completely free of charge.

The reconstruction of the Oncohematology Department is a wonderful example of a successful cooperation between a federal children's hospital and philanthropy. Evidently, the development of expensive high-end techniques in medicines is possible only if an extensive sponsorship is provided. This is confirmed by the experience gained in the USA, Germany, France, Great Britain, and now also in Russia.

Dear friends, we take this opportunity to thank you once more for your participation in saving our children and invite you to the Oncohematology Department opening ceremony. It will be a meeting of doctors, representatives of public organizations and mass media, parents of our patients and the children themselves, businessmen and politicians, those who need help and provide help, the asking and the giving. Musicians, winners of international competitions and exhibitioners of the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation, will also participate in the ceremony.