How you can help

PROBLEMS

• · Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) strikes 3 times more people now than it did 15 years ago in The world and in South Africa there are no available statistics and documented cases
• · MCC is twice as likely to kill a patient as melanoma.
• · Most physicians are not familiar with MCC because it is a recently defined type of cancer, and few studies have been done on how it grows and how is should be treated.

We want to create awareness to this type of skin cancer as the scientist are also working hard on it to address the problems through studies in the lab and in the clinic, however in order for us to achieve this goal we need support from multiple sources. Any money you choose to donate would be used to advance three main goals related to Merkel cell carcinoma:

• · Educating new Merkel cell carcinoma patients about this serious and uncommon disease. Our Merkel cell carcinoma web site serves as a resource for patients in South Africa, free of charge, to help guide management of this disease about which many physicians are not familiar.
• · Determining the best care strategies. We want to create the largest and most comprehensive database of Merkel cell carcinoma patients in South Africa. This resource will be used to help determine which of the available treatments are most effective for a given patient with Merkel cell carcinoma.

While portions of our campaign endeavors can be very expensive, all contributions help make a difference. For example, our web site is exclusively supported by donors. Funds are used for server fees, updates and web site maintenance, and we are now also working towards increasing the visibility of our web site so that newly diagnosed patients and their physicians may find us early after diagnosis -- the most critical time.

Your donation to our Merkel cell carcinoma awareness campaign effort will go towards educational efforts.

If you are interested in supporting these efforts, please contact us on info@merkelcell.za.net

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This site does not provide medical or any other health care advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The site and its services, including the information above, are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical or health advice, examination, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional before starting any new treatment, making any changes to existing treatment, or altering in any way your current exercise or diet regimen. Do not delay seeking or disregard medical advice based on information on this site. Medical information changes rapidly and while The web master and its content providers make efforts to update the content on the site, some information may be out of date. The information should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease without the supervision of a medical doctor.

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