Urban Yoga's Charitable Causes

Meet Anya...

Anya is 3 years old, loves to sing & dance and lives in Phuket, Thailand with her mother, father, baby brother, grandmother and uncle. Anya was diagnosed with Thalassemia major when she was only one. There are different strands of the disease, but she has a rare and extreme form that is life threatening. If left uncured, she has an estimated 8-10 years left to live.

Thalassemia is an inherited recessive blood disease that affects the amount of hemoglobin and red blood cells the body can produce. This results in a lack of oxygen to the internal organs which slows growth, causes fatigue, fevers, diarrhea and other intestinal problems. Anya's parents know she only has a short "visit" here on Earth, and try to make every day for her a happy day. Thalassemia major is a very serious disease and if left untreated, children usually die between one and eight years of age.

Treatments include chronic blood transfusions, for which she and her family travel to Bangkok monthly to receive. She takes a daily iron chelation medicine to sustain her in her day-to-day life, but in order to be cured from the disease, she would require a bone marrow transplant and a blood transfusion to replace all the blood in her body. She would have to go through chemotherapy and be quarantined for approximately one month.

What is the value of one life?

It costs her family an average of $550 per month just to provide her the necessary medical treatments & medicine she is currently receiving. These medicines simply sustain the disease and help buy her time. With her current treatments, she has an estimated 8-10 years left to live. It would cost approximately $28,500 for Anya to be cured for life.

All donations are greatly appreciated.

A Benefit Yoga Class with Desiree Rumbaugh & Andrew Rivin

Wednesday, 3/17/10 - $250 Raised for TeenLifeline.org

• Hands On Greater Phoenix
• Phoenix Childrens Hospital Foundation
• Aim High Institute
• Poverty's Pets.org
• The Family School
• Camp Kesem, ASU
• Hacienda Healthcare
• Phoenix Pride
• Yoga Bear.org
• Young Nonprofit Professionals Network
• Khalsa Montessori Schools PTO
• Akha Women's Foundation
• Welcome to America Project
• Arizona Osteopathic Charities