October is the World Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation and Vogue magazine are launching a joint photo project, #CANCERNOTDEATHSENTENCE, with the support of TSUM Kyiv Department Store and Ukraina TV channel. The initiative seeks to use real stories to show that life goes on after the cancer diagnosis and cancer is curable.
#CANCERISNOTDEATHSENTENCE shows stories of Ukrainian women who stood up to cancer and defeated the disease. These are wonderful images of the heroines, full of life and beauty.
The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation is confident that these sincere stories will help support and encourage those who are just at the onset of a difficult battle against cancer. They will give not only strength to fight the disease, but also the belief that the disease can be cured. All the stories send one message: how important it is for the victory to remain positive and move on with your life after a cancer diagnosis for both the women and their families. Unfortunately, the disease affects the entire family, rather than one person.
The project will be a platform that brings together the best oncologists and psychologists in the country to help women quickly cope with the first shock, accept the disease, and start fighting for life and health. It will also remind Ukrainian women that it is vital to undergo regular medical check-ups, because cancer can affect anyone, and screenings help save life and health.
#CANCERISNOTDEATHSENTENCE has become a next step of the Foundation’s Cancer Can Be Cured programme. Launched in 2008, the initiative became Ukraine’s first and most ambitious programme to provide assistance to adult cancer patients, helping about 400,000 Ukrainians in total. Under the programme, the Foundation supplied equipment for diagnostics and complicated surgeries to hospitals, launched a mobile women’s clinic, and took other actions. Now, one in four Ukrainians can access modern diagnostic equipment provided by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, according to Natalia Yemchenko, a member of the Foundation’s Supervisory Board.
From October through December 2021, the Foundation will collect stories of Ukrainian women who have defeated cancer. You can share your story here or send a message to Dmytro Blinov, the project manager.
The Foundation will select winners in every Ukrainian region, collect photo and video stories for the #CANCERISNORDEATHSENTENCE project, get doctors’ recommendations. and place them all on a special phototherapy landing page.
