Fourth shipment this year reaches the hospital.

I got confirmation from the hospital that the latest shipment, the fourth so far this year, reached them safely on Monday July 17th. This latest shipment contained 30 50-mg vials of doxorubicin and 40 2mg vials of vincristine.

The hospital also got a shipment this month of drugs from Kimadia (the government agency responsible for supplying them with drugs) that included 540 10-mg vials of doxorubicin. The hospital's calculated annual need for doxorubicin, what they requested from Kimadia at the start of the year, is 4000 50-mg vials and 3000 10-mg vials. The entire supply received from Kimadia, all 540 vials, has already been dispensed to patients. The meager amount in the shipment I sent will no doubt be also exhausted before my next shipment reaches them.

Doxorubicin is only one of many drugs in desperately short supply at the hospital. The hospital's calculated annual need for vincristine is 7500 1-mg vials and 250 5-mg vials. None has yet been furnished by Kimadia this year. The meager amount I managed to send will no doubt be exhausted before a month is out.

I remain resolved to do what I can. I remain frustrated that I am so unsuccessful in attracting others to assist this project.

Photos

I have various photos the hospital has sent me that provide ample evidence that the shipments are getting where they are intended to go and reaching patients. Security considerations require that I not pass on anything that could place the folks in Iraq at risk, but I need to reassure anybody that wants to help that this is a real project doing real good and helping real people.







This is a photo of a courageous young girl getting treatment using some of the drugs that were sent. I can only hope that the treatment helped. The fight against cancer is never won 100%, chemotherapy is only a way to improve the odds and try to extend the span of years. If this one patient lives a full life it will be worth more than anything you or I could ever spend on this project.












This is the refrigerator at the hospital with the drugs from one shipment stacked on the shelves. These drugs are the same as those used in US hospitals and have been kept under the necessary refrigeration every inch of their journey to Mosul. Each little carton contains a little vial of liquid, more or less the amount needed for one treatment for one patient depending on dosage and things I have never been trained to judge. The doctors tell me what to send, the doctors treat the patients, I'm just a helper.

Before a month elapses and I can send another shipment, this refrigerator will be empty. The hospital treats about 2000 new patients a year. Thats 167 patients in an average month, and each patient getting chemotherapy usually needs several treatments.

I am plowing everything I can spare and more into this project. My credit card balance is bigger every month.


This project is very real, and it is very expensive, and what I can do on my own is simply not enough. I need to enlist others to help, and I am failing at that task. So far the money from other donors in the last two months totals $400. In the same period I've plowed $8250 into the project. I don't begrudge a nickle of what I've spent, and I don't blame those few others who have contributed for not contributing more because I know they have done what they can. I am only frustrated that I can not spend more myself and that I have not found enough others to help.

If anybody reads this, there are two ways you can help:

1. Tell other people about this project, as many as you can, as loudly as you can, as often as you can. Tell your friends, tell your local radio and tv stations, tell doctors, send emails, write letters to the editor, spend some time on it, don't be ashamed to make a pest out of yourself and don't quit just because people tell you "no". Tell people to come to this website http://waldschrat.blogspot.com/ and read this project blog and do what they can to help. A burden that is too heavy for one is light work for many. I need to recruit LOTS of people to help on this project. Spread the word, HEROS WANTED!

2. Give what you can. Call the folks at LIFE and make a donation over the phone with your credit card, or send them a check, being sure to tell them that the donation is for the "Mosul Hospital Account". You'll find contact info for LIFE here.