Letter To The Editor DNA, Mumbai (www.nyoooz.com)
Sir
Your article “Life Doesn’t End With CML: Doctors” (http://www.nyoooz.com/mumbai/612229/life-doesnt-end-with-cml-doctors; www.nyooz.com, 22 Sept 2016) made interesting and positive reading for the CML community of patients, their caregivers and doctors.
Of interest to your readers and the CML community in India, would be Friends of Max (www.friendsofmax.info), an India-based Support Group arm of The Max Foundation (www.themaxfoundation.org) a US-headquartered organization which offers people around the world the opportunity to face CML (chronic myeloid leukemia) and GIST (gastrointestinal stromal tumour) cancers with dignity and hope through access to treatment, support and education and their global advocacy network. It caters to the needs of about 18000 CML patients all over India.
In India, Friends of Max is registered as a Public Charitable Trust with the Charities Commissioner’s Office in Mumbai since 2007. Its objective is to increase awareness and act as a patient support / advocacy group for underserved CML and GIST cancer patients. As mentioned earlier, it caters to the needs of about 18000 patients all over India, mostly those below the poverty-line. Over the years it has developed a network of City Chapter Leaders, trained over 260 volunteers and held over 150 meetings in cities all over India. Its Advisory Medical Board includes the finest oncologists in the country.
In essence Friends of Max provides a platform for its members to share and learn from each other’s experience by arranging face-to-face meetings with the best oncologists and hematologists, training volunteers who would like to help fellow survivors live a positive and productive life, organizing events to spread awareness about the disease and stressing the importance of “compliance”.
On World CML Day (22 Sept) Friends of Max organised a large patient group meeting in association with Tata Medical Center in Kolkata, to be followed by one more in association with Guwahati Medical College in Guwahati (25 Sept). On 2 Oct another patient group meeting in association with Sir Ganga Ram Hospital is planned for 2nd Gen TKI patients in Delhi. Apart from the Delhi event, in the month of October alone there are Patient Group Meetings scheduled in Bikaner and Chennai. Please visit https://www.facebook.com/CMLGISTsupportgroup/ and www.friendsofmax.info.
Yours sincerely
Communications Officer | Friends of Max | Secom Business Centre, A Block Basement, Shiv Sagar Estate, Dr A B Road, Worli, Mumbai |