Canon Hong Kong continues its support to "Dress Red for Thalassaemia" for the 4th Consecutive Year
Canon Hongkong Company Limited (Canon HK) has always supporting different kinds of charitable activities to show its love and care to the community. To spread love and care to the society by actions, Canon HK joined “Dress Red for Thalassaemia” organised by Children’s Thalassaemia Foundation (CTF) for the 4th consecutive Year by calling its staff to contribute to the fundraising program which aims to improve thalassaemia patient’s health and their life quality. Canon Electronic Business Machines (CEBM) joint hands with Canon HK to support this fundraising program. In two weeks’ fund raising period, 205 staff committed to participate and raised a total of $20,560.7 donation to the said program. The funding will be used to finance the patients to purchase iron removal device and needles, support the operation of Thalassaemia Resources Center to provide counseling services for patients and their family.
On 31 May, all participated staff dressed in “Red” and put on the limited edition pin to show their support on this meaningful day. In addition, a special sharing session is organised and invited Dr. Wilson Chan from Department of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine Queen Mary Hospital to share the information of Thalassaemia with our staff. Ada, a Thalassaemia patient, also shared her sufferings. Meanwhile, Kandy Wong, Caring Ambassador, joined the sharing session to encourage more people to donate blood on a continuous basis in helping the children born with Thalassaemia.
According to the latest report, there are 870,000 people that are known to be Thal-carriers who suffered from Thalassaemia Minor, which occupied 12.5% of Hong Kong’s populations. For Thalassaemia Major, there are about 350 patients now in Hong Kong including not only children, but also teenagers and adults. Thalassaemia Major is a serious form of inherited childhood anaemia. Children with Thalassaemia Major cannot produce enough haemoglobin on their own and for this reason, they have to sustain their lives by having regular blood transfusions and taking doctor prescribed drugs. Therefore, regular blood donation could definitely help the patients. In view of this situation, Canon HK organize “Blood Donation Day” twice a year and encourage blood donation on a regular basis to support for the patients.
About Children’s Thalassaemia Foundation
CTF was founded in 1993 by a group of medical professionals, patient’s parents and charitable members of the community. Over the past twenty years, the Foundation endeavored to ensure that children born with Thalassaemia Major and intermedia can grow in a healthy and happy environment, and to achieve its ultimate goal of eradicating the disease in Hong Kong.