Let's give Vanessa a second breath

The Our Lungs Foundation, founded by Y&T Luxury Property, an all-female real estate firm that pays all of the operating expenses of the Our Lungs Foundation, supports the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases, including lung cancer and the effects of COVID-19. Together, they are launching a fund for Vanessa. And you can get involved too. Give Vanessa a second breath!

Vanesska comes from Uherské Hradiště, she was born in 2009 into a big family with lots of siblings. Vanesska and the whole family were very affected by her diagnosis of SMA, a congenital disease that affects conscious muscle movements. But there is nothing in the world that could steal the smile off Vanessa's face. 

With her mom caring for her alone every day, she loves to create, paint, or spend long moments in the kitchen cooking and baking. She also enjoys traveling to see her grandparents, although her illness doesn't make it any easier.

Vanesska, like every other child, deserves the best possible life full of love, experiences and adventures. But she hasn't had much luck in her life so far, apart from a loving family. Let's work together to give it to her. 

Oxygen concentrator, suction machine, cough assistant, and rehabilitation aids are all expensive medical devices that the family cannot afford as a regular expense. While insurance only covers the bare necessities, the family needs much more.

What Vanesska wants most is a portable oxygen concentrator for 60,000 CZK. She herself is on pulmonary ventilation and travelling to see her beloved grandmother is too difficult for her. A portable oxygen tank would allow her to travel comfortably and more often to her grandparents without losing her breath. But then a high-quality suction pump costing 25,000 CZK is essential for Vanesska's care. And finally a cough assistant for CZK 127,000, which the family otherwise borrows for expensive money from companies.

The disease SMA, or spinal muscular atrophy, affects approximately 1 in 6,000 babies born. The disease is congenital, as it is caused by a mutation in a gene called SMN during the child's development. As a result, patients experience muscle wasting and limited mobility. SMA has four types, which differ in the severity of the disease and the extent of the disability, and the age at which the patient was diagnosed.

Until recently, the disease was incurable, treated only symptomatically. In 2017, a drug that treats SMA was introduced to the Czech Republic. It is a one-time infusion of a gene to a patient under two years of age. The drug, which costs over 50 million crowns, is the most expensive in the history of medicine. In the Czech Republic, specifically in Motol in Prague, it has only been administered to thirty patients so far.

A cough assistant is a non-invasive medical device that helps patients cough. It stimulates coughing by rapidly changing the pressure. Patients usually use the device on a daily basis also because by ridding the lungs of mucus, the lungs are also cleansed of bacteria and viruses. Coughing thus becomes an indispensable and very important part of life.