Other Denis's photo

Hello!
We are parents of a sick child and would like to ask for help. This is our last hope for saving our little son who is sick with myelomonocytic leukemia.
Our 3-year-old son Denis needs an urgent operation, stem cell transplantation. It is only possible if a matching donor is found. The search will be undertaken in Germany. This is the only chance to save our Denis.
My name is Marina. I am Denis's mom. I got pregnant and gave birth to our second child (a daughter) on September 18, 2007 on purpose - to give my stem cells from placenta to Denis. Unfortunately, the stem cells only matched at 50%, and Denis needs a 100% match. The stem cells were tested in St. Petersburg. We lost a lot of time hoping that the cells will match. Denis's condition is getting worse every day. His illness is severe but stable. He suffers from constant headaches and muscle pains, often has nosebleeds, and his liver and spleen are enlarged. Our son is currently on treatment at Tomsk regional clinical hospital where he is receiving supporting therapy to make sure his disease does not progress. At this stage the therapy is financed by the federal budget, but the search for the stem cells at the international donor registry is not.
The operation requires 15,000 euros, and we need to pay this amount urgently to initiate the search in the database of stem cells. The delivery of transplant from a European collection center to St. Petersburg costs another 2,500 euros.
My husband Alexander and I, and our two kids do not own a place to live. We currently rent an apartment in Tomsk. I recently graduated from Tomsk State Teachers' University and I do not work at this time. My husband works at a private construction company and earns 10,000 rubles a month. Our parents live in a small town Melnikovo in Tomsk region. My mother (Denis's grandmother) does not work, as she helps us raise her grandchildren. Only my father works. My parents also have to pay for college for my younger sister. My husband's parents cannot help us financially too. We do not have any assets to sell to raise cash, and we cannot get a loan from the bank because we would not be able to pay it off. We exhausted all our options by now.
We received financial help for childbirth and testing in St. Petersburg from our regional administration, private donors and companies at our parents' place of residence. However, this money will not cover the search for the stem cell donor abroad and the operation.
Please help us save our son! We need help with raising funds for the stem cell donor search and the operation. Denis's condition may worsen at any moment. The time Denis has to stay in a stable condition is very short. Our little son is tired from the constant illnesses and necessary injections. He is asking us to be operated as soon as possible. Our son is very sweet and kind, all our neighbors adore him.

Marina Alenichkina (Denis's mom)
Home address:
636131, Tomsk region,
Shegarsky raion, selo Melnikovo,
ul. Kommunisticheskaya, d. 106, kv. 6
Contact phone:
+7 (964) 390-34-60

Bill for the donor search in Germany

Update as of November 19, 2007. We are enormously grateful to anonymous donors who transferred 15,000 euros for the Morsch registry for the bone marrow donor search for Denis. We now need to raise 2,500 euros for delivery of transplant. Denis's condition is not very good.

Update as of November 30, 2007. Denis is in a serious condition. His chronic leukemia converted into acute leukemia. Denis is receiving chemotherapy in Tomsk in accordance with instructions from St. Petersburg's transplantologists.

Update as of December 17, 2007. Denis's transplantation is scheduled for February 5th

Update as of December 23, 2007. On January 10th Denis will come to St. Petersburg for therapy. He needs help with paying apartment rent and testing. The money for delivery of the transplant was collected.

Update as of January 15, 2008. Denis needs a child-size bed with a mattress because he is now sleeping with his parents, as the rental apartment only has a full-size bed. Denis's height is 97 cm. He also needs a large size stroller. The boy is very weak and gets tired quickly outside. His parents have to carry him in their hands to the daily tests at the clinic. Denis’s parents will gladly accept used items.

Update as of January 28, 2008. Based on the control testing prior to harvesting of the stem cells, Denis's donor turned out to be having health problems. The donor search is restarted and the transplantation was put on hold.
Denis's doctors insist that he needs to stay in St. Petersburg under the monitoring of transplantologists until a donor is found, as his condition is not stable. Therefore, Denis and his mom still need help with paying apartment rent.

Update as of February 21, 2008. Denis was finally found a donor. Unfortunately, it is not a complete match, but it is the closest match. He will be hospitalized at the clinic on Monday.

Update as of March 17, 2008. The transplantation took place on schedule. Denis is now in cytopenia.

Update as of April 4, 2008. Denis's blood counts are not growing and so far there are no signs of engrafting of the donated bone marrow. Denis constantly receives blood transfusions.

Update as of April 8, 2008. Donated transplant did not engraft. Second bone marrow transplantation is being discussed. Denis feels relatively well.

Update as of April 12, 2008. A decision was made to offer Denis haploidentical transplantation from his mom, as previous search did not find any completely matching donors, and reserve donors match even less. The transplantation requires 2 columns for cleaning donor's stem cells (CliniMACS CD34 Complete Kit with Accessories). Each column costs 6,350 euros in Russia. As the columns are shipped only upon prepayment in full and the delivery and customs clearance take close to a month, the money is needed urgently.

Update as of April 18, 2008. Denis is starting the show the first signs of donated bone marrow engrafting. The puncture results show no blasts.

Update as of May 5, 2008. The haploidentical transplantation was postponed, because Denis's own cells started to grow. He had now recovered hematologically, but with his own cells rather than with donor's cells. It means the donated bone marrow did not engraft. The puncture results show that he has no blasts in his bone marrow, but the relapse is still a danger.
The haploidentical transplantation from Denis's mom is still considered as a treatment option. Another option would be a search for another donor at the international registry.

Update as of May 15, 2008. Unfortunately, Denis relapsed. At this time, additional typing of potential donors is under way. At the same time, a possibility of haploidentical transplantation is being discussed.

Update as of May 25, 2008. Since additional search for the donor at the international registry did not produce any results, haploidentical transplantation from Denis's parents is now planned. This requires purchase of two columns for the cleaning of the donor’s stem cells (CliniMACS CD34 Complete Kit with Accessories 177-01). The columns cost 12,700 euros if purchased in Russia. The money is needed urgently. Denis is now taking Dacogen, a medication used to treat aggressive forms of myeloblastic leukemia, which is designed to control the growth of blasts.

Update as of June 6, 2008. Denis is undergoing chemotherapy prior to haploidentical bone marrow transplantation. We are sincerely grateful to Victoria Reznikova for her help with buying and delivering Thiotepa medication for Denis.

Update as of July 11, 2008. Denis relapsed again. The further treatment strategy is under discussion

Update as of July 9, 2008. Denis fully recovered after the second transplantation and was discharged for outpatient monitoring. He feels relatively well.

Update as of July 16, 2008. A decision was made to offer Denis therapy with donor lymphocytes and several medications stimulating graft versus host reaction.

Update as of July 28, 2008. Denis responded quickly to donor lymphocyte infusion and developed "graft versus host" reaction. The situation is under control. Denis feels relatively well.

Update as of August 3, 2008. The puncture showed no blasts in Denis's blood. His GVHD is under control. Denis is planned to receive two more infusions of donor lymphocytes.

Update as of November 26, 2008. Based on the results of control tests, Denis is in remission and shows no GVHD symptoms. The doctors found it possible to allow him go home. The next set of control tests is scheduled for the end of January. We are enormously grateful to all blood donors, supporters and volunteers who have helped this little boy and his mom during their stay in St. Petersburg!

Update as of January 13, 2009. On January 20th Denis will come to St. Petersburg for planned examination.

Update as of February 17, 2009. Denis and his mother arrived or a scheduled examination. Denis will stay in hospital for a while since immunosuppressive therapy will be canceled for him.

Update as of May 12, 2009. Denis was allowed to return home to Tomsk. He continues to receive Entocort, while Vfend was replaced by Diflucan to prevent the occurrence of fungal infection.

Update as of August 4, 2009. Denis came to the clinic for planned testing. He is doing well. The next round of tests will be in 4 months. Denis still needs to take Mycosyst and Entocort.

Update as of November 5, 2009. Denis came for planned testing. He was found to have low titers of CMV and worsening of skin GVHD. Denis is undergoing therapy with immunoglobulins. He is also planned for electrophoresis to control GVHD. Denis feels well.

Update as of December 24, 2009. Denis and his mother went home for the new year's since the photopheresis machine will only be working starting February. Denis is feeling fine. To control his chronic GVH reaction the doctors have worked out a hormonal treatment scheme: he will have mini-courses once a month.

Update as of January 24, 2010. Denis and his mom came to St. Petersburg for tests and treatment of chronic skin GVHD with photopheresis. Denis feels well.

Update as of February 9, 2010. Denis is now in St. Petersburg. The need for photopheresis therapy is under discussion, because Denis has practically no signs of skin GVHD.

Update as of March 3, 2010. Denis is doing well. Based on planned test results, he has minimal GVHD and is in remission for leukemia. It was decided to postpone photopheresis, as the doctors will allow him to go home for two months. Denis is still continuing therapy with Entocort and Diflucan.

Update as of June 11, 2010. We came for another round of tests. In regards to primary disease, Denis is in remission (he has 0.8% of blasts). He will stay on the same therapy: hormones once a month (Metipred), Entocort and Cellsept, as Denis still has chronic skin GVHD.
Due to long-term hormonal therapy, Denis developed adrenal insufficiency. But hormonal therapy cannot be canceled, because GVHD could worsen without it.
We hope and believe that everything will be well. We will go back home until September. Denis feels well.
Today is 2nd anniversary since the second transplantation.
Denis really loves children and he would like to get a dog, but he is not allowed yet to have one due to medical reasons. He is a very active and smart boy. At home, we read and write with him, because next year he will be starting school. In his free time, Denis goes for walks with his sister and friends from the neighborhood.
We are very grateful to everyone for the financial and emotional help we received. Wishing you great health!
Denis's mom

Update as of October 19, 2010. On October 10th we flew to St. Petersburg for a checkup. Denis is in remission in regards to his primary diagnosis. He is planned to undergo photopheresis procedure. Due to long-term hormonal therapy, Denis developed adrenal insufficiency. We had a cool summer in Tomsk this year, and Denis spent days outside playing with his sister and friends. He learned to bike. We are grateful to everybody for their help.
Thank you so much!
Denis's mom

Update as of October 25, 2010. Since Denis is being taken off hormonal therapy that was used to control skin GVHD (he still has a rash on his palms), it was decided to refer him for 8 courses of photopheresis to prevent an acute recurrence. After the first course, Denis's skin on his hands improved noticeably. He feels well and is in remission based on test results.

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