The initiative of EORTC staff members to help parents of children with cancer or stem cell therapies

In 2018, three members of EORTC staff, Liv Meert, Yuliya Vostrikova and Edith Bastiaens organized a fundraising operation to collect money for a new association named “Aliamed Open Software”.

This association is the idea of Steven Deleu and Seraphine Rossi, two members of the EORTC staff,  founded in memory of their daughter, Aliana Deleu Rossi who suffered from a rare genetic disease. After a year of fighting the disease, Aliana passed away, due to the side effects of her second stem cell transplantation, just a couple of days before her second birthday.

During her treatment, Aliana’s parents noticed that patients, parents, medical staff and other organisations frequently encounter issues, which could be easily resolved with a small IT application.  Unfortunately, IT applications or support are very expensive and as such, not so easy to acquire.

With a friend (a former EORTC Developer), they have founded “Aliamed Open Software”. This association’s mission is to help patients, carers and other associations by developing small apps or providing small technical assistance that will not only improve the healthcare, but also could improve the quality of life for the patient.

Their first project is to develop an app that will help parents to keep track of complex medication schedules for cancer or stem cell therapies so that children can be safely cared for, in the comfort of their own home. Doctors can also use the app to follow up the treatment and the feedback from the parents.

“The first fundraising target was to gather around 1000 euros but thanks to the EORTC staff and the Facebook page we have now raised more than 5000 euros which will enable Steven to have a solid basis to develop the app” says Liv Meert.

Steven Deleu, the founder of Aliamed Open Software has established a collaboration with the department of “pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation” of the Princes Elisabeth Children’s Hospital in Ghent, Belgium to define and build the application.

“We could even see beyond the initial purpose: the app could also help schools, retirement homes, etc.” says Steven Deleu.

If you would like more information about ‘Aliamed Open Software’

If you would like to help this association, contact Steven Deleu.