Campaign "I'm running!" - for the fourth year!

Get a gift and donate!
With Christmas just around the corner, The Pink Train Foundation, in cooperation with Habibi Jewelry, offers you the perfect opportunity to combine gift buying with helping a good cause. All the jewellery with the Pink Train Foundation logo on Habibi Jewelry’s website is on special offer, and part of the proceeds made from selling the jewelry will be donated to the Foundation, thereby helping even more women with breast cancer.
Their shipping costs to send abroad are also very reasonable!
Together we can achieve more!

New campaign! Only in November and only in RIMI shops for every Schwarzkopf product purchased 10 cents will be donated to the Pink Train Foundation. All proceeds will go towards supporting women in Latvia with breast cancer.
Pink train hiking trip to Sigulda

- We will meet at Riga Central Station (inside, at the clock tower end, by the small Laima clock outside the Laima chocolate shop) at 09.00.
- The train leaves at 09.30 and arrives in Sigulda at 10.46. Please wear sensible walking gear and bring your own picnic.
- We anticipate returning to Riga on the train at 15.30 (arrival in Riga 16:48).
Support the marathon runners and women with breast cancer!

Dear friends and supporters! May 15 and the Lattelecom Riga marathon is nearly upon us and our team of 27 will be running/walking the following distances :
6 KM: Diāna Briede, Diāna Legzdiņa, Evita Kalniņa, Linda Lielauza, Marlēna Novika, Santa Jaunbērziņa, Tanya Wienand;
Charity trip to Lielvārde

We will head for the Andrejs
Pumpurs Museum, where our guide will tell us a little more about
the bear-slaying hero, about the town of Lielvārde and the
traditional Lielvārde woven belt. We will be able to become
“Lāčplēsis" ourselves and try out his bed of stone, and count how
many times we can tie the Lielvārde belt around our
waists.

Women's Day Rally
The Women's Day rally in Latvia will take place for the eight consecutive year on the occasion of International Women's Day, on March 8. This rally is for female participants only and this year promises to surprise the participants with a variety of novelties. Organised by the Association "Event agency".
New Year's wishes!
Season's greetings and thank you note
Dear friends and supporters!
It is exactly one year since the Pink Train Foundation was founded. During the course of this year we have organised train trips around Latvia and other events - our launch reception at the British Embassy in April, participation in Riga's marathon in May, the enterTRAINment event and calendar presentation in October. More recently, this month we organised a calendar presentation in North England, and while in the UK we visited one of the leading cancer hospitals in Europe - Christie's - and initiated discussions about possible work experience visits for nursing staff in Latvia who work with breast cancer patients.
Our Calendar
Over ten years ago,
in the UK, a film called "Calendar Girls" was made, based on a true
story about a group of women who posed, discreetly topless, for a
calendar, which was then sold to raise funds for cancer patients.
The Pink Train Foundation is proud to present Latvia's first ever
"Calendar Girls"! The models featured in our calendar are either
women who have had to face breast cancer themselves, or their
supporters – family, friends, colleagues – because only by
supporting each other is it possible to get through such a
difficult period in life. Each model has also written their message
to women with breast cancer in Latvia.
enterTRAINment

Charity trip to Dubulti, Jurmala

Today 22 people joined us on our trip to Dubulti where we visited the restored house of Latvian writer Aspazija as well as the unique fairy tale house before heading for the beach.
Marathon is finished
Charity trip to Valmiera

Launch event at the British Embassy
On 21st April 2015 the Pink Train Foundation’s launch event took place at the
British Embassy. The Foundation started its work in autumn last
year and was officially registered as a charity in December
2014. The Foundation was formed in order to provide modern
support for women in Latvia diagnosed with breast cancer:
namely, individual consultations with a psychologist and sessions
with a physiotherapist. The Pink Train
Foundation organises various events to raise funds to help
those women who need these services.
Pink Train charity trip to Jelgava
Sponsor our runners!
On May 17 the Pink Train Foundation's team of 14 runners will be taking part in the Lattelecom Riga Marathon. Most of us will be running the 5 km but some will be running 10 and even 21 km. If you would like to sponsor us EUR 1 (or more!) per km please contact us or make your donation directly to one of our accounts - all proceeds will go towards providing emotional and physical support for women diagnosed with breast cancer in Latvia. Donate here!
Pink train story
To hear a diagnosis of „breast cancer” or „malignant tumour” is a huge shock to any woman, at any age. I first heard these words in July 2013, when malignant cells were discovered in both my breasts following three biopsies. The first operation followed, during which these cells were removed together with several of my lymph nodes, to determine whether the cancer had spread. I went alone to my doctor’s for my results, as I was convinced that there was nothing wrong with me. When I was told that I would need another operation, but this time a bilateral mastectomy, and removing all lymph nodes from one armpit, I was devastated. I staggered out of the surgery and rang my sister who immediately left work and came to see me at home. We cried that evening and tried to come to terms with the news and what would happen next.
We faced the doctors’ panel already the following day, and came armed with questions. Unfortunately, in response to our question “What is the emotional support here for women following such debilitating surgery, chemotherapy (which at the time seemed the worst thing possible!) and radiotherapy?”, the doctors had nothing to say other than to point at my sister and friend and indicate that here was the emotional support I would need. But it is also difficult for the relatives, friends and colleagues of people with cancer to cope when hearing that a person close to them is sick and has to witness them going through these invasive procedures.
After the first operation, on seeing the scars, I wept, but the nurse on duty said there was nothing to cry about, the scars would heal. More than a year later it is still difficult for me to speak or write about the emotions I went through after my second operation....
Everyone knows that your hair falls out during chemotherapy, as the chemotherapist also reminded me regularly, but no-one warned me just how quickly this would happen, or in what quantities, just two weeks after the first dose. When this happened, I rang my friend in the UK first, as she had gone through something similar herself, and after that – my hairdresser, as we had agreed that he would come to my apartment and shave my hair off entirely when needed. Then I rang my workplace to say I wouldn’t be in “for technical reasons” and finally my brother and his girlfriend who came round for moral support whilst my hair was shaved off completely.
The fact that I had previously gone for regular physiotherapy sessions even before my cancer diagnosis helped me come to terms with and recover more quickly. I set myself the goal that after my second operation I would go to the health centre regularly and start exercising as soon as possible. I continued to do so throughout the period of my chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment, and felt better after each session, both physically and morally.
I visited a psychotherapist exactly one year after my operation. I had already been dreading my “one year anniversary” date, but wasn’t prepared for the overwhelming grief that overcame me that day, which meant I had to miss work. As is quite common, I felt that if I went to see a psychologist or psychotherapist, it would be an admission that I was unable to cope or losing my mind. I need not have worried though, because by talking to a psychotherapist I felt much better and realised that it’s perfectly normal, and even advisable, to seek specialist help during a life crisis such as this. I had also long been suffering from insomnia, which is typical in around 50% of cancer patients, and the psychotherapist also helped me find solutions for this.
Currently, in Latvia, the state doesn’t cover the costs of physiotherapy or psychotherapy, even though it is standard practice globally and research shows that such rehabilitation methods are an extremely important part of treatment to help patients with cancer and other chronic diseases to help them return to an active lifestyle as quickly as possible. The Latvian Ministry of Health has proclaimed 2015 as Cancer Awareness Year, and much mention is made of the need to make regular checks, but less attention is paid to what happens when a woman goes for screening and is actually diagnosed with cancer. A great deal currently depends on a woman’s own efforts and ability to finance the abovementioned therapy.
This is why we have founded the Pink Train Foundation – to raise funds so that this gap can at least partially be filled, by offering women in Latvia diagnosed with breast cancer the opportunity to have individual consultations with a professional psychologist/psychotherapist and/or physiotherapist, providing the necessary help on the road to recovery.
Charity trip to Daugavpils
Recent Posts
-
Campaign "I'm running!" - for the fourth year!
16. Apr. 2018 -
Get a gift and donate!
7. Nov. 2017 -
Together we can achieve more!
10. Nov. 2016 -
Pink train hiking trip to Sigulda
28. Sep. 2016 -
A letter from Solvita
12. May. 2016 -
Support the marathon runners and women with breast cancer!
10. May. 2016 -
Charity trip to Lielvārde
19. Mar. 2016