Every now and again you hear a story that stops you in your tracks, leaving you feeling inspired and amazed. This is exactly how the Dilleen family, founders of EZ Living Furniture, felt in 2019 when they met Dr Trish Scanlan and heard her incredible story. So much so, they felt it absolutely necessary to do whatever they could to help.
“It’s one thing to treat a patient in front of you, it’s another thing entirely to change the way a country takes care of children with cancer,” said Prof Patrick Murray, dean of medicine and medical science in UCD, on Dr Trish Scanlan's story.
Back in 2006, as part of her master’s degree in international health, Dr Scanlan travelled to Tanzania to learn how children’s cancer was being treated in other parts of the world. There she was confronted with a heartbreaking and bleak reality. A chronic shortage of resources and drugs, coupled with having only one doctor (the wonderful Dr Jane Kaijage ) and three nurses available, meant that the survival rate for children presenting with cancer was less than 10 per cent.
The following year Dr Scanlan returned to Tanzania with one goal - to improve and strengthen paediatric oncology services for the children of Tanzania. Her vision and commitment made a massive difference, and within 18 months she had revolutionised cancer treatment for children to such an extent that survival rates soared from just 10 per cent to 60 per cent.
Dr Trish Scanlan founded the Children’s Cancer Unit at Muhimbili National Hospital. Previously the number of children being treated was around 100. Fifteen years on, more than 750 children are availing of free treatment. But sadly it is still only a fraction of the estimated 4,500 child cancer sufferers in Tanzania.
Their Lives Matter (TLM )
In 2011 Tumaini la Misha, or Hope For Life, was established, a parents' association set up to help and support the families of the patients. Tumaini la Misha would later become the international NGO collective Their Lives Matter, or TLM. Dr Trish Scanlan and TLM share a dream, a dream where every child in Tanzania who needs it, will receive the best cancer treatment possible, absolutely free. Dr Scanlan has dedicated her life to treating and improving the lives of children with cancer and their families in Tanzania.
Dr Trish Scanlan and EZ Living Furniture - from the west coast of Ireland to the east coast of Africa
When the Dilleen family heard this extraordinary tale they felt compelled to contribute however they could, in any small way. By the following Monday, using all of their connections and experience, plans were in place to send a container packed with comfortable new mattresses from the west coast of Ireland to the east coast of Africa. After many hurdles and setbacks, the container finally arrived, providing much-needed comfort to the children cared for by TLM.
Since then the charity has been very close to the hearts of the EZ Living Furniture family. Always on the lookout for ways to help Dr Scanlan, even to the extent of using the company warehouse as a base to send medical equipment from Ireland to Tanzania, the EZ Living Furniture family has decided to appeal to the public for help on behalf of Dr Trish Scanlan and Their Lives Matter.
Funding for the charity has been severely affected by Covid-19. EZ Living Furniture is asking customers to donate as little as the price of a cup of coffee to help treat the children of Tanzania.
Buy a mask - save a life
EZ Living Furniture is selling hand-made masks for €4 in each of its stores nationwide. The masks have been made in a skills workshop by parents of children treated by Dr Trish Scanlan and TLM.
All proceeds will go to funding chemotherapy treatments, nutrition programmes, and more for the many sick children that Dr Scanlan and TLM care for.
For more information visit EZ Living Furniture’s Their Lives Matter web page at www.ezlivingfurniture.ie/ezliving-tlm
