Patients with cancer enjoyed their first trip to Prague, sponsored by the Orco Foundation and Tribu Cancer, a French non-profit that seeks to improve the quality of life of those in cancer treatment. “There is an illness worse than cancer, it’s isolation” says Veronique Lambert, one of the organizers and herself in chemotherapy treatment. The goal of this trip was to break the pattern of isolation that keeps patients at home and with no plans, opening their eyes to the magic of Prague. The participants flew to Prague, stayed 3 nights at MaMaison Pachtuv Palace, and were treated to guided tours of Prague’s Old Town, jazz and classical musical concerts, as well as a welcome buffet with Orco Property Group employees and members of the Czech cancer association Krtek. In a second phase of Magik Moment, Czech cancer patients will have the opportunity to travel to Paris. Not only was the event therapeutic for the cancer patients, it also served as a cultural exchange between French and Czechs, as well as strengthening ties between Orco employees in Paris and Prague.
Tribu Cancer, a French non-profit charitable organization, was created in August 2004 by Nathalie Laporte, a cancer patient, who passed away in May 2005.
Tribu Cancer’s mission is to provide a mutual aid and communication network structured to help cancer patients and ill adults become aware of their own deepest desires and to achieve them.
Nathalie herself benefited from a spontaneous outpouring of involvement and generosity from friends and then from friends of friends during her illness…all of them together contributed to her achieving her dreams and goals before she died.
Her desire in founding the organization was to show other patients that there is so much they can do and achieve, with the support of others, even while facing a difficult illness. It’s not a time to lie down and die. Nathalie often said, “Life has so much in store for you, you just don’t know it yet, so get out and live."
The organization connects those who are facing illness alone with a network of volunteers who wish to express their solidarity in concrete terms, notably using online tools, but also by providing a range of therapeutic services such as relaxation classes and Art Therapy, a unique event such as Magik Moment Paris-Prague or a Bicylce Tour de France for patients which took place in June 2008. Tribu Cancer develops these simple yet powerful tools into a network of support for cancer patients available 24 -7.
http://www.tribucancer.org/