Fundación Soffy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to caring for children and young people with chronic diseases such as cancer, kidney failure, and lupus.
Fundación Soffy’s beginnings date back to October 2012. While undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer, a 12-year-old girl called Soffy touched the lives of the medical staff and other young patients she met. Soffy’s love of life inspired the creation of Fundación Soffy, which was legally incorporated in August 2013.
The organization’s mission is to provide medicines, food, social management, preventative health services, and other comprehensive support for children with chronic illnesses and their families, with the ultimate objective of improving the child’s health and wellbeing. Fundación Soffy’s vision is to be a leading name in its field. Its work is guided by the values of love, tolerance, courage, dedication, empathy, gratitude, transparency, and solidarity.
Facilitating access to treatment
Support offered by Fundación Soffy takes a variety of different forms. Continuous, quality support lies at the heart of its work, right from the moment of the patient’s referral to the foundation following their diagnosis with a chronic illness.
Fundación Soffy is committed to helping young patients receive timely, effective treatment, which is particularly important for children preparing for a transplant, or where the child’s illness takes a significant toll on the family’s financial situation. In addition to paying for life-saving medicines, a fundamental part of the care and support provided by Fundación Soffy is financial support for clinical studies to develop new and more effective treatments for a range of chronic conditions.
Fundación Soffy also helps children and their families to transition from hospital to home dialysis. For low-income families, home dialysis presents unique challenges, since it requires a room with facilities for sanitation and hygiene. The foundation helps these families by providing essential equipment so that children can receive the life-saving treatment they need at home.
Another key priority of Fundación Soffy is providing nutritional support to patients. This is particularly important for children with kidney failure, who often have to adhere to stringent dietary guidelines with many food restrictions. Fundación Soffy’s team of medical professionals provide personalized advice, consultations, and workshops to help parents understand their child’s nutritional requirements, plan menus, and prepare wholesome foods that meet these guidelines.
Emotional support
Fundación Soffy understands that having a child with a serious, chronic illness can be one of the most stressful and emotionally difficult experiences—for the young patient, their parents, and their family. Children may not understand what is happening to them; they may feel frustrated, angry, scared, and sad because they are sick or in pain, because they have to visit the doctor regularly, or because they feel different from their friends and classmates.
Parents often feel intense shock, sadness, fear, helplessness, anxiety, hopelessness, and anger when their child is diagnosed with a serious medical condition. Some feel a sense of guilt or shame, or feel they’ve failed as a parent, even though their child’s illness was not their fault. Likewise, siblings may be frightened, frustrated, and confused by what’s happening to their brother or sister, or they may feel neglected or overlooked by their parents.
Fundación Soffy understands the challenges involved in the situation and offers support through active listening, guidance, workshops, and motivational activities. The organization helps families find the strength to deal with their child’s serious health conditions. In the face of incredibly challenging situations, Fundación Soffy helps families to find hope, visualize the recovery process, and improve their quality of life.
Through its team of professional psychologists and pedagogical experts, Fundación Soffy also helps young patients keep up with their learning, even when their medical treatment forces them to miss school.
Public health campaigns
Adopting a proactive approach, Fundación Soffy also conducts public health campaigns with a multidisciplinary team made up of doctors, psychologists, and nutritionists. The organization provides accurate information on a variety of chronic conditions, including overweight and obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and kidney failure.
Working with companies and universities, Fundación Soffy also provides virtual and face-to-face health checkups to help people understand their risk factors for disease. These checkups can also help people identify health problems before they become more serious.
Fundación Soffy in Querétaro
In July 2022, María Martina Pérez Rendón, head of Mexico’s Ministry of Health, signed a collaboration agreement with Fundación Soffy president Sara Meza Maldonado. Under the agreement, both parties agreed to provide support to parents and guardians of children being treated for cancer by the Health Services of the State of Querétaro (SESEQ). The partnership will help SESEQ provide more comprehensive care to patients with childhood cancer, and specifically provide for training of parents and guardians so they can deliver better care at home.
If you want to help
Fundación Soffy relies on the generosity of its supporters to make all of its life-saving work possible. For those interested in supporting the nonprofit, there are several options, from donating money directly via bank transfer, to volunteering your time via the Fundación Soffy Volunteer Program, to becoming an organ, tissue, and blood donor. Learn more at the organization’s website.