How much does a society cost? Its price is not estimated by the bank assets. What matters more is the attitude towards the person next to us. Natalia is a young and capable Bulgarian with a very big heart. 2009 was the water shed in her life, as she was diagnosed with the heavy illness of pulmonary hypertension - a disease which obstructs normal breathing, the oxygen mask becomes a part of the everyday life and each movement leads to fatigue. The small arteries in the lungs shorten during this illness. The human heart struggles to push the blood through these arteries. As a result the blood pressure in the lungs becomes higher and the heart grows in size. This type of illness results later on in cardiovascular insufficiency and death.

When Natalia heard the diagnosis for the first time she was quite shocked, but she never gave up. On the contrary, she launched The Bulgarian Society of Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension which aims at improving the quality of life of all people suffering from this disease, protecting their rights and collecting money for their medical treatment. Today Natalia needs help herself. We learn more about her health condition from Doctor Lubomir Dimitrov from the National Heart Hospital:

“The health condition of Natalia who has been my patient for over five years is bad and is getting worse each month. When she has to climb stairs for instance she stops after every three or four stairs to have a rest, because she feels exhausted and lacks oxygen. In the past several years she even started to feel tired even when she is at rest, i.e. even then she feels symptoms similar to those after a heavy physical pressure.”

Natalia graduated Journalism and International Relations and worked in a series of media, including the Bulgarian National Radio. She loves to travel. She does that even now, yet not physically. She closes her eyes and starts dreaming. In order to start breathing normally again Natalia needs a lung transplantation which can not be done in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian woman chose the Clinic of Thoracic Surgery in Vienna (Austria) and has already been given a date for her first medial examination - on December 9. However, she still lacks the necessary amount - EUR 120,000. What is the financial support provided to the Bulgarian patients with pulmonary hypertension who need lung transplantation?

“The money is granted by the Commission for Medical Treatment Abroad under Regulation № 12. Unfortunately, the limit set under this regulation amount to EUR 90,000. The rest of the money- EUR 30,000 must be collected by the patient. Of course, a patient who is in the transplant list and in bad health condition is unable to organize a donation campaign alone”, says Natalia.

People who suffer from this heavy illness in other European countries usually live between fifteen and twenty years. In Bulgaria these patients rarely live longer than five years. According to data of the National Healthcare Fund, an average of 129 Bulgarians go under medical therapy. All four centers for pulmonary hypertension function as cardiovascular clinics. However, these patients need the assistance of pulmonologists and rheumatologists.  There are a total of 12 medicines for this type of medical treatment worldwide. In Bulgaria there are only four types of drugs. However, Bulgarian patients had no access to such medication until 2009 and were literally doomed to death due to the high price of the medical therapy ranging from EUR 500 to EUR 5,500 per month. The state does not have enough money. What can the state do then to alleviate partially the difficult life of all people suffering from pulmonary hypertension? More from Natalia herself:

“Based on Regulation № 10 regarding medical treatment with prohibited medical products the Ministry of Healthcare should permit the Bulgarian hospitals to do intravenous therapy (IV therapy) during advanced stages of pulmonary hypertension which preludes the lung transplantation. This treatment is very expensive, but it can save between eight to ten lives per year.”

Natalia has been helping others a lot. Now it is our turn to help her breathe normally! You can do that with transfers to the following bank accounts:

Unicredit Bulbank

BGN-BG97UNCR7000 1522 0893 44

EUR-BG43UNCR7000 1522 0893 46

BIC(SWIFT)-UNCRBGSF

Holder: Natalia Stefanova Maeva

Contact tel:  + 359 877 773 887

http://help-natalia.com/

·  The account is tax free. People and companies can benefit from tax alleviations in line with Article 22 of the Personal Income Tax Act and Article 31 of the Corporate Income Tax Act.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov