Fundação Icla da Silva é referência no auxilio à vitimas da leucemia Icla da Silva Foundation is a reference in helping leukemia victims
Icla da Silva Em nosso planeta a cada 3 minutos uma pessoa é diagnosticada como uma enfermidade de sangue, sendo a leucemia (doença maligna que atinge os glóbulos brancos e não tem origem conhecida) a mais presente na infância podendo levar à morte pela ausência de doador compatível. Foi justamente esta tragédia que motivou a criação de uma das mais renovadas fundações de auxilio às vitimas da doença, a Icla da Silva Foundation. Ao longo de 27 anos, a ONG tem ajudado a salvar a vida de inúmeras pessoas. Atualmente, a leucemia é o 9º tipo de câncer mais comum entre homens e o 11º entre as mulheres no Brasil. É também o tipo mais frequente em crianças e adolescentes. Nos Estados Unidos, a doença afeta mais de 20 mil pessoas a cada ano, com uma taxa de mortalidade alta. A Icla da Silva Foundation foi fundada em 1992, na ocasião do falecimento precoce, aos 13 anos, da jovem Icla e respeita um de seus últimos desejos escritos em uma carta encontrada pela familia dias após sua partida, em que ela pedia ajuda para outros pacientes daquela terrível doença. “Aquilo ser-
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On our planet, every 3 minutes, a person is diagnosed with a blood disease called leukemia (a malignant disease that affects white blood cells and has no known origin). Most present in childhood, can lead to death due to the absence of a compatible donor. It was precisely a tragedy like this that motivated the creation of one of the most well-known foundations to help victims of the disease, the Icla da Silva Foundation. Over the course of 27 years, the NGO has helped save the lives of countless patients. Currently, Leukemia is the 9th most common forms of cancer among men and the 11th among women in Brazil. It is also the most common type in children and adolescents. In the United States, the disease affects more than 20,000 people each year, with a high mortality rate. The Icla da Silva Foundation was founded in 1992, due to the early death, at the age of 13, of the young Icla and respects one of her last wishes written in a letter found by her family days after her departure, in which she asked for help for other patients of that terrible disease. “That served as fuel for all of us, family and friends of Icla, who wanted to fulfill her last request, saving the lives of others”, recalls Airam da Silva, Icla’s brother and founder of the foundation. After 3 years of fighting leukemia, Icla passed in New York where she had migrated in the hope of getting a life-saving bone marrow transplant, but she never found a compatible donor. Currently, the Foundation is the largest recruiting center for potential donors for “Be the Match”, a US bone marrow program, registering about 40,000 potential new volunteers annually in the database. With offices spread across the east coast of the United States and in Puerto Rico, the Icla da Silva Foundation has made continuous efforts to offer assistance and hope to thousands of families in the United States and around the world. The Icla da Silva Foundation’s mission is to save lives by recruiting bone marrow donors and offering ancillary services to children and adults struggling to beat leukemia or other diseases that can be treated with stem cell transplants. “Our goal is to bring hope to patients with blood disorders,
