In May, more than 160 000 euros were donated to the cancer treatment fund the Gift of Life. The Council of the foundation approved support for the treatment of 33 people, 10 of whom will receive support for the first time. Altogether, the foundation covered nearly 355 000 euros of medical bills - more than ever before in a month.

In May, the foundation was flooded with 15 aid applications a week - more than ever before. We have assisted more than 100 people in five months. Last year, it took us a whole year to support as many people.

Gifts of life

We have run personal donation campaigns in support of 46-year-old mother and grandmother Irene Amur from Pärnu and 57-year-old father Ott Paakspuu from Saaremaa. Both treatments have been effective and will be continuously supported by the foundation. In December, the viewers of The Time of the Angels on TV3 donated more than 64 000 euros, which guarantees Irene's treatment for a long time. People live among their loved ones. Every day is a gift.

In May, we also began supporting 60-year-old Viktor from Jõhvi. Over three months, we will contribute 18 000 euros to his lung cancer treatment, 2 000 euros of this will be covered by himself.

Viktor writes:

"I am sincerely grateful to the foundation and for all of the donations. I believe that I will get better so that I can be together with my loved ones, rejoice over the smaller and bigger successes of my children and grandchildren, be a valuable member of the society and do what I love.

We also helped out 63-year-old Tiiu from Tartu. We are supporting her breast cancer treatment, which costs approximately 3 000 euros a month.

She writes:

"At the end of June, our family will welcome the first grandchild. I hope that this treatment will allow me to see it and enjoy the process. Without support, the medicine would be too expensive; one treatment of 21 pills costs nearly 3 000 euros. I wish to thank everybody who has been able to support the foundation and thereby given those in need hope and faith in getting better."

Volunteers at the Cancer Treatment Foundation raised a total 34 000 euros during the nation wide charity campaign on May 5th.

The foundation buys medicines; the state gets their tax money

Õhtuleht daily newspaper critically addressed taxing charity. It is worth mentioning and underlining that the state does not tax donations. However, the foundation has to pay 9% of VAT on medicines just like other customers.
As we purchase quite a lot of drugs, we have used more than 300 000 euros of donations to pay VAT over four years.

The new Minister of Health and Labour Riina Sikkut thinks the Cancer Treatment Foundation has no choice but to support both cancer patients and the state with taxes.

Meanwhile, Rain Laane, the Chairman of Management Board at the Health Insurance Fund is a regular donor at the Cancer Treatment Foundation

Toivo was awarded an honorary decoration

During Tallinn City Day, the founder of the Cancer Treatment Foundation Toivo Tänavsuu was given the honorary decoration of Tallinn. The decoration was presented by mayor Taavi Aas and the chairperson of Tallinn City Council Mihhail Kõlvart.

Auctions, basketball, football and volleyball

In May, we organised several auctions where we sold a basketball signed by the players of Estonian professional basketball team Kalev Cramo, a photoshoot and handicraft cutting board. This contributed 1 200 euros to the foundation.

We also had fundraising at basketball finals in Tartu, Pärnu, Tallinn and Rapla. In addition, for the first time people were able to donate during volleyball matches in Rakvere.

The Premium league football game between Pärnu Vaprus and Tallinn Kalev brought in 5 000 euros in donations. Representing the 944 people who had showed up to support their favourites, the main sponsor of Pärnu's team Coolbet donated 3 000 euros to fight cancer, which was eventually "rounded up" to 4 000 euros. The spectators contributed over 600 euros to the donation boxes. During half-time, we ran a charity auction and sold a shirt signed by Pärnu footballers, but also the football boots of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from FC Liverpool and our own star Ragnar Klavan's Estonian National Team shirt gifted to us by the Estonian Football Association.

Preparing for the Duck Race on 9 June

In May, we contributed to the preparations of the Duck Race, Estonia's greatest charity event. This year, the Cancer Treatment Foundation helped Estonian Association of Parents of Children with Cancer (EAPCC) organise the race.

The CEO of the foundation Katrin Kuusemäe was live on the Russian morning programme and explained why the Health Insurance Fund refuses funding in some cases and how our foundation together with kind people can help these patients.

Katrin told Russian Delfi how important the support of kind people is to our foundation and how we value even the smallest donations.

Would you like to support cancer patients – to give the gift of life?

You can become a regular donor in just a few seconds via your bank. You can find the bank details here. 

You can order our newsletter by writing to info@kingitudelu.ee

Our Facebook page gives the quickest overview of the Foundation's activities.

Have a nice summer!

Katrin Kuusemäe and Toivo Tänavsuu