Puttinu Cares, the children’s cancer support group was set up in October 2002 and it employs the principle of solidarity. The charity relies on sponsors and generous donations from the public, who also participate regularly in fund raising activities. Puttinu offers help when families need to go abroad to pursue any kind of further treatment in UK. Government covers all medical costs for the patients, and Puttinu supports the patients by offering accommodation for the accompanying family free of charge.

Puttinu Cares started to help young children with cancer, and support has now extended to include adult patients. This alleviates a huge burden, since when a child gets sick the parents do not have to shoulder the expense of accommodation to be able to stay with their child in hospital and care for them in between stays. Right now, between 60 – 90 patients are having treatment in one of 30 different hospitals in UK every month. These patients can spend weeks, months and even years away as in patients or coming and going from hospital.

Since 2008 we have started slowly purchasing apartments and today we own 20 apartments in Sutton. The support group have however been receiving requests for help from people suffering from various ailments, and not just from Cancer. We realised that in order to be able to help all these people with accommodation we require more than just the 20 apartments in Sutton. Infact since last December 2014 we started renting another 6 apartments near the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton. This means that 26 apartments are available to hundreds of families in their time of need.

Puttinu Cares has a dream – that there will come a day when no patient and his family undergoing treatment abroad will have to pay for accommodation. We are on our way to making this dream come true.

A HOME AWAY FROM HOME
After an extensive search for the ideal property and a lot of challenges, in May 2022, Puttinu cares managed to acquire a building which is freehold and 10 minutes away by walk from the heart of London where many of the key hospitals are located. This project is being estimated to cost around 25 million British pounds. In the months to come this property will see a complete refurbishment and turned into 27 studio apartments tailor made to the needs of the patients, which will provide a holistic approach to the whole family. This new building will also be named in the memory of the late Doctor Victor Calvagna who has left an impact on the life of so many who were under his care.

This venture will not be possible without the help of many kind-hearted, generous people who embrace our plea with open arms and together we can manage to achieve this long-standing dream for these current patients and future ones.
Fil Gimgha il Kbira ftakru f Puttinu

We have an upcoming fundraising marathon which will be aired live on TVM and all the other local channels on Good Friday 7th April 2023 from 09:00 – 15:00 and 21:00 – Midnight.

We invite you to share this information to all who can be contributors and make a difference in the lives of these patients.