David Davydov was born on August 1, 2000 in Kurskaya village in Stavropol region. When he was only
6 months old, he was diagnosed with a hematological disease, a severe form of thalassemia. For the next five
years, his life depended on monthly blood transfusions.
Since David's condition is deteriorating rapidly, he urgently needs an expensive operation, bone marrow transplantation,
to be performed in St.Petersburg. There is no alternative to this treatment. The operation itself will be paid for
from the federal budget, but the search for the donor in the international registry costs 15,000 euros, and the delivery of
transplant to St. Petersburg from the European collection center will cost another 2,5000 euros.
Unfortunately, we are unable to pay for the search for the foreign donor. Please help us collect the money!
Stela Davydova (mother)
Update as of March 20, 2006.
Unfortunately, the worldwide donor search showed no matching donors for David. His parents and a brother
also cannot be donors.
In this situation, it is necessary to type his more distant relatives. David has many cousins, aunts and uncles.
Potentially, one of them could be a matching donor.
The typing of a locus for a genetic typing costs 3,000 rubles, and there are six loci. When a donor search is
performed, they are checked one after another, until a mismatch with genetic type of a patient is found. If all
six loci match, a matching donor is found. Therefore, if 8-10 David's relatives are typed, it may require
approximately 90,000 rubles for typing of 3 loci on average.
As genetic typing is not covered by the federal budget, we would like to ask for help with paying for this expense.
Update as of April 11, 2006.
It sounds unbelievable, but David's relatives refused to undergo genetic typing. The further treatment strategy is
under discussion, particularly, a possibility of obtaining transplant from David's parents.
Update as of December 18, 2006.
David came to St. Petersburg for an examination, a result of which will determine whether Russian
transplantologists will attempt the transplant.
David still does not have a fully matching donor. While he is in St.Petersburg, he constantly needs blood
transfusions of blood type II(+).
Update as of January 25, 2007.
David is now at home. The decision regarding further treatment has not yet been made.
Update as of February 8, 2007.
The "Argumenty I Fakty" newspaper published an article about David. Subsequently, the charitable fund "AiF - Kind Heart"
started accepting donations for David's bone marrow transplantation at the clinic in Idar-Oberstein in Germany. Unfortunately,
both bone marrow donors that are good matches for David live in USA and are not available for clinics in Russia. The
transplantation can only e performed abroad.
Update as of March 8, 2007.
We are very grateful to "AiF - Kind Heart" fund for raising 100,000 euros and transferring this money to Germany!
David came to the clinic in Idar-Oberstein last Tuesday. Once he arrived, he was immediately admitted to the hospital, which was
necessary due to worsening of his condition from the time David came for a preliminary examination. At first, it was painful for
David to even walk, but today he is already walking on his own.
Valdemar Weirich
West-East Friendship Society of Saar State
Update as of March 16, 2007.
After David's condition significantly improved, he was transferred to preliminary therapy as an outpatient. This will allow
using the money raised for his treatment more rationally. David and his mom will stay at the dormitory-type housing at the clinic.
During David's hospital stay, his mom Stella was allowed to sleep in his hospital room for free.
The donor search for David was successful. The donor from USA who completely matched David had given his blood for testing
on March 13th. In case of the positive outcome, he agreed to donate his stem cells to the clinic. All the necessary documentation
regarding testing has been transferred by the bone marrow registry to the clinic.
Yesterday, a preliminary treatment plan for prepared. It calls for transplantation during the week of April 16, 2007. However, two conditions
have to be met:
- Bone marrow transplant should arrive to the clinic. This is a responsibility of the clinic.
- The rest of the money (95,000 euros) needs to be transferred to the clinic's bank account by the date of transplantation. The costly stage of
treatment that can no longer be stopped or reversed has to be paid for in full. We would like to ask all the individuals and organizations that have
been helping us to inform us about their fundraising efforts. We are hoping that transplantation will begin on schedule.
Valdemar Weirich
West-East Friendship Society of Saar State
Update as of March 28, 2007.
David is being prepared to the transplantation. Starting Monday, he was admitted to the clinic again. He is injected with
Deferal to remove excess iron. In addition, he started oral chemotherapy to fight existing diseases.
The donor search is proceeding as planned. As of today, two potential donors gave their blood for testing. The results are expected in the near future.
The fundraising has been proceeding well. Vnesheconombank of Russia donated 1,250,000 rubles for David's treatment based on request from
Russian Charity and Health fund and Mr. Katrenko, State Duma deputy. In addition, other businesses have been contacted for help.
The fundraising is also taking place at Davydov's family place of residence. We do not know yet how much has been raised altogether.
According to our preliminary estimates, we are still lacking 40,000 euros.
Valdemar Weirich
Update as of April 13, 2007.
Based on corrected data, David still needs 47,000 euros for his treatment. Our main news: a donor for David was found
in the USA! However, the transplantation is being postponed due to lack of funds. The new transplantation date was set for May 10.
Update as of May 3, 2007.
Even though David is still lacking 45,000 euros for his treatment, yesterday (on May 2) he started pre-transplantation high
dosage chemotherapy. The transplantation is scheduled for May 10. The transplantation could no longer be delayed. After considering all the
pros and cons, the clinic administration made a decision to perform transplantation before receiving a full prepayment, with anticipation that
the lacking funds will be raised in the near future.
Update as of May 10, 2007.
Today David received bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor. He is now in recovery period which may last 2-3 months
at Idar-Oberstein clinic.
David is in a satisfactory condition. Thanks to long preliminary therapy, he withstood high dosage chemotherapy well and without
serious complications. Currently, he is being monitored by his doctors and his mom is by his bedside.
Davydov family is enormously grateful to everyone who has helped and continues to help them in saving their child. They are particularly
thankful to "AiF - Kind Heart" and Margarita Shirokova personally, who opened the door to David's treatment,
as well as to "Children Issues - Radio Russia" program and its correspondent Elena Tsagadinova. In addition, they are
grateful to AdVita fund that started the campaign to save David and Russian Charity and Health fund and its director Tatiana Kireeva,
who offered their help during difficult times and still continue their support. Nadezhda Krishtopa, head of the department of Social
Development of Kursky district in Stavropol region, was very active in raising awareness about Davydov family needs and offered
much help with fundraising at their place of residence.
Davydov family would also like to thank the members of Edinaya Rossiya party: Vladimir Katrenko, Alexander Ischenko, Aleksei
Smolnikov and Aleksei Felkin.
Special thanks are going to everyone else who contributed to David's treatment.
Valdemar Weirich
West-East Friendship Society of Saar State
Update as of May 11, 2007.
Yesterday I reported on David's treatment. Today I have to return to the financial matters.
Based on the preliminary estimate prepared by the clinic, David's treatment will cost 200,000 euros. This amount needed to be
transferred to the clinic's bank account prior to beginning of David's treatment. At the end of February 2007, David's condition
started to deteriorate. At that time, AiF-Kind Heart transferred 105,000 euros to the clinic's bank account. Considering urgency
of the treatment, clinic's administration agreed to accept him under condition that the missing sum will be transferred to the
clinic before the transplantation. During David's preliminary treatment, we were able to raise additional 15,000 euros from various
sources and obtain a guarantee of donation of 35,000 euros from Charity and Health fund, which raised the total amount collected
to 155,000 euros. The following transfers were made to the clinic:
- January 15, 2007: 5,000 euros from Stella Davydova
- February 22, 2007: 105,000 euros from Aif-Kind Heart fund
- March 5, 2007: 3,000 euros from Stella Davydova
- March 5, 2007: 1,350 euros from Stella Davydova
- April 10, 2007: 2,700 euros from Stella Davydova
- April 20, 2007: 3,245 euros from anonymous donor
- Charity and Health fund: 35,000 euros.
The total of deposits is 155,295 euros (including donation from Charity and Health fund). The missing amount is 45,000 euros.
Davydov's family would like to ask everyone for help with raising the necessary amount.
Valdemar Weirich
West-East Friendship Society of Saar State
Update as of May 30, 2007.
David's condition is improving every day. Recently, he took his first walk out of the sterile room and to the game
room that is located across the hall. David was really happy to see something new. He currently has no significant complications
or transplant rejection issues. His doctors are happy with his blood counts. They are saying that if he continues to follow
their directions, he will have very good chances to be cured and maybe even have a family when he grows up.
The final round of financing for David's treatment is proceeding very slowly. We are still lacking close to 45,000 euros.
The funds raised for David are about to run out. The clinic administration is preparing a bill for the treatment provided
up-to-date and is considering an option of transferring David to a Russian clinic for further treatment. However, in
the opinion of many, change of environment may negatively impact David's health and expose him to unanticipated
dangers, which may negate all the efforts that went into David's treatment. For this reason, Davydov's family would like
to once again ask everyone for help with raising the rest of the money.
Valdemar Weirich
West-East Friendship Society of Saar State
Update as of June 12, 2007.
Last week, David's bone marrow was collected and tested for presence of donated stem cells. Unfortunately, the test results
showed that his stem cells significantly outnumber the donated cells. His doctors took him off all the immunosuppressants
to give the donated stem cells chance to multiply. This should take 8-10 weeks. There is a chance that it will work,
but it is not very likely. During all this time, David will need to be monitored by the specialists.
Thanks to the preliminary therapy, David underwent transplantation without any complications. He feels well. Due to change in
treatment strategy to anticipation of cell growth the further treatment (or monitoring) is possible in one of the clinics in Russia.
However, if the donated stem cells fail to multiply, David was recommended another transplantation, which can be performed no earlier
than in October of this year.
David's family is currently looking for a Russian clinic that would accept David for further treatment. The clinic is preparing a bill for David's
treatment, and it should be issued within a few days.
Valdemar Weirich
West-East Friendship Society of Saar State
Update as of June 18, 2007..
David was discharged from the clinic in Idar-Oberstein and referred to further treatment to Russian Children's
Clinical Hospital in Moscow. On Sunday, June 17th, they flew out of Frankfurt airport. I waved them goodbye.
David felt well despite the transplantation. He played and behaved just like other little boys.
Regarding the transplantation, it now appears certain that it was not successful. The donated stem cells were most likely rejected. This is very
unfortunate. We were too sure that transplantation will be successful the first time. Only after the failure of it, we were told that bone marrow
transplantations to patients with thalassemia are often only successful when performed a second or even third time.
In any case, David is now in Moscow. He was recommended a second transplantation from another donor, which can be performed no earlier than
October this year.
The funds transferred to the clinic's bank account will most likely cover the treatment David received.
Valdemar Weirich
West-East Friendship Society of Saar State
Update as of June 25, 2007.
David is already at home. He will undergo a long-term therapy with Desferal, which may be followed by second bone marrow transplantation.
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