As Children of God, we are called to be active in alleviating one another's suffering; no effort is too small, or too great. Inspired by the spirit of love, Love For Children is founded by the Secular Association,Totus Tuus; an organization that cares for terminally ill children in Colombia. Due to economic hardship, Totus Tuus offers parents who are unable to provide healthcare to their children a home filled with love and the medical care needed for the children to sustain their lives.

This program is more than an organized method in delivering competent, compassionate, and consistent care to children with chronic, complex and life-threatening conditions. It is a manner in which a greater good results from some of the things that cause great suffering to many in this life, specifically, terminal illness and poverty. Through offering children overcome by poverty and illness a greater quality of life and minimizing their suffering through spiritual and temporal works of love, love becomes more contagious, and spreads among many.

It is vital that those under our care are offered abundant love that takes special care to nourish each child's spiritual needs, for without such nourishment, the children have little hope, and struggle to endure their sufferings. Through prayer, kindness, and love, not only are each child's spiritual needs met, but they grow to endure their sufferings so joyfully, that the joy too spreads among all those fortunate enough to have crossed paths with them. Love For Children joins all other organizations established by other people of good will, as a gentle reminder of God's love for those most vulnerable, poverty stricken and ill, and for those who help them.

The great need to help the Children.

Colombia has one of the world's highest mortality incidences of cancer in children. According to the Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia (INC), Colombia’s main cancer hospital 2,500 new cases of children cancer are diagnosed every year. However, many more cases go un-diagnosed.

The main problem is that most of the children come from the countryside and rural areas of Colombia. Out of the 70% of patients who are admitted with easily treatable cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and solid tumors. The main cancer hospital (The INC) has an overall survival rate of about only 30%

 

Reasons for the low survival rate

1. Abandonment of treatment (more than 40% of patients failing to complete the full course of treatment).

2. Families do not receive any financial, emotional or practical support to help them cope with long stays in hospital.

3. Many children are forced to stop discontinue treatment due to lack of support.

4. Colombia has no countrywide cancer plan for children.

How Our program helps these children?
Extreme poverty has left our children’s families with no other choice but to hand them over to our loving care. In order to ensure that their medical needs are met. Therefore, our children are under our care for a limited time, until their illness is treated, or up till their health declines to death, or permanently as a result of being abandoned by their parents due to economic difficulties.

 

The benefits of our program

1. Increase survival rates, this equates to saving the life of children every year.

2.  Provide practical, emotional and financial support to children with cancer and to assist them in completing the full course of treatment.

3. Relief from pain and other distressing symptoms.

4. Integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care.

5. Offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death.

6.  Uses a team approach to address the needs of patients and their families including bereavement counseling.

Our program provides each child with food, clothing, shelter, transportation to hospitals, basic medicine, paid treatments and other necessities. In many cases, we have become the legal guardian to children whose families are unable to support them financially. In addition, we employ, psychologist-social workers, support staff members, and twenty-four hour nursing supervision.

Sponsorship

Your monthly pledge of $20 or more would help us to give hope to children stricken with cancer and other deadly diseases. As a monthly electronic giver, you will be among the most dedicated supporters.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world,
particularly in developing countries.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and the total number of cases globally is increasing. The number of global cancer deaths is projected to
increase 45% from 2007 to 2030 (from 7.9 million to 11.5 million deaths)

© 2011 Totus Tuus Secular Association, All Rights Reserved.