Hello!
My name is Natalia, I am a mother of Dima Trifoev. Our family includes Dima and his twin brother, their grandmother and I. The boys are very close. Dima is in the third grade. He loves to draw and dreams of becoming an enthomologist.
Our troubles began in mid-February 2009 when Dima was found to have a brain tumor and diagnosed with medulloblastoma of cerebellum. A surgery was performed urgently to remove the tumor. It was a great shock for our family to learn that the tumor was malignant.
Dima is now undergoing a course of radiation therapy, which will be followed by chemotherapy, long and difficult treatment. In his 9 years, Dima is learning to live all over again. He is a fighter by nature, so he is not giving in to this difficult situation. I previously worked as a schoolteacher, but I cannot work now, as I stay at the hospital with Dima. He cannot be there without my help. I cannot express in words the depth of my pain, despair and fear for my son's life. We also experience serious lack of money and will be grateful for any help.

Natalia Trifoeva,
Dima's mother
Home address:
196240, St. Petersburg,
ul. Krasnoputilovskaya, d. 109, kv. 258.
Contact phones:
+7 (911) 249-48-38 (Natalia)
+7 (812) 370-82-86 (home)

Medical report

Update as of April 23, 2009. Dima is not feeling very well now. He has a hard time tolerating radiation therapy. He has no appetite, feels constantly fatigued, vomits and his extremities tremble.
Dima's mom

Update as of May 2, 2009. Dima completed cranial spinal radiation and now he needs local radiation on his head. His condition improved, and he started walking. Dima stopped vomiting. We are thankful to everyone for their support and care.
Dima's mom

Update as of May 12, 2009. Dima completed a course of radiation therapy and his condition has improved.
We would like to thank all our friends, colleagues, my students, Dima's classmates and their parents for showing your care for Dima's situation.
We are grateful to Alexandra, Evgeniya Khodunova and many others whom we never met before, but who gave us their attention and support. Dima has a course of chemotherapy ahead of him. We will continue our fight for his health. We now need to focus on recovering the function of his right arm and leg, as after a complex operation on his brain, Dima's right side and facial nerves were paralyzed.
Dima is constantly practicing his exercises and fine motor skills. He also regularly does his homework to keep up with his classmates.
In the beginning of June, Dima will need MRI of brain and spine prior to a course of chemotherapy. This is a rather expensive test. We are hoping for your support.
Natalia, Dima's mom

Update as of May 13, 2009. After the fourth try, our esteemed clinic gave up and issued us a referral for the free MRI. So we no longer need the money for this purpose, even though our family's financial situation remains very difficult.
Natalia, Dima's mom

Update as of June 5, 2009. On June 1 Dima was admitted to the hospital again. He will need long-term chemotherapy. Prior to that, Dima was installed a catheter on Friday.
We need to purchase needles for it that cost 3,500 rubles. Thank you for your help in advance!
Natalia, Dima's mom

Update as of July 10, 2009. Dima completed the first round of chemotherapy. He has seven more to go. His treatment protocol is supposed to last close to a year. Dima is feeling weak and fatigued and has no appetite. After long-term therapy with antibiotics he developed intestinal problems.
Dima now needs to recover before the next chemotherapy round. He needs iron supplement, Maltofer, and Actovegin to improve brain circulation. I will be grateful for any help.
Dima's mom

Update as of August 5, 2009. Dima started second chemotherapy round. In-between the rounds he spent 12 days at dacha with the whole family and his beloved brother. He became stronger and happier, and while at dacha, he was laughing, talking and moving around all the time. Dima is now at the hospital. He got absorbed by Nemo coloring book and is working hard on it to finish and present to his brother. It is turning out very nice.
We would like to thank everyone who came to our help. We are very grateful to Zhavid Girardovich Khachatrian, Victoria Bychkova, Alexandra, Vassiliev family, Alexander Trifoev and many others who are supporting us. Dima now needs strong medications that improve brain function so that he can recover his movement. Thanks to these drugs, he started walking better, keeping his body straighter, and became less shaky, but his facial nerve is still paralyzed.
Dima's mom

Update as of August 31, 2009. Dima completed second round of chemotherapy. His blood counts plummeted, so we stay at the hospital and wait for the improvement. Dima is fatigued. He does not eat well, and feels tired and sleepy. We are hoping he will have time to recover before the next chemotherapy. We are very grateful to those people who support us. We would like to thank Alisa Kasian, Maria Lubchenkova, Elena Vassilieva and many other responsive and kind people. Your support gives us a huge boost on our way to recovery.
Dima's mom

Update as of September 16, 2009. Dima is undergoing the third round of chemotherapy. For now, he feels normal, except for lack of appetite and constant fatigue. In September he started the new school year like all other kids. His favorite teacher, Nadezhda Igorevna, who has been very supportive of Dima and our whole family, comes to see Dima at home and work with him. Dima tries very hard to be a good student: he writes without mistakes and counts well. However, due to paralysis of his right hand, his handwriting is still uneven and it is difficult for him to fit the numbers into the squares of the notebook. Dima is now at the hospital, and he enjoys studying Literature, his favorite subject.
Dima's mom

Update as of September 27, 2009. Dima is very fatigued and does not eat well due to constant nausea and lack of energy. We have to supplement him with special formula as he lost a lot of weight. Despite not feeling well, Dima is reading and studying a lot, as he does not want to fall behind his classmates.
We are very grateful to everyone who has been helping and supporting us: Vassiliev family and their friends, David Zhirairovich Khachatrian, and Gololobov and Dubrovsky families. We are thankful to the teachers of Dima's school and all the medical personnel of hospital No.31 for their care, sensitivity and, of course, high professionalism.
Dima's mom

Update as of October 4, 2009. Dima completed the third round of chemotherapy. When all his blood counts suddenly dropped, we urgently had to return to the hospital where Dima was put on IV drip due to fever.
We are now waiting for his blood counts to rise and hoping to avoid complications. Dima is now lying down all the time. He is fatigued, has no energy, and lacks appetite. We have to give him special nutrition, vitamins and iron supplements, as well as medications improving blood circulation in the brain.
Dima's mom

Update as of November 24, 2009. We completed the 4th round of chemotherapy. Dima had complications and was transfused platelets due to low blood counts.
Dima was discharged home for two weeks once he reached stable condition. At home we are helping Dima get back to normal, so we are feeding him well, and trying to improve his blood test results (he takes hormones, vitamines and essenciale forte).
Dima's mom

Update as of December 13, 2009. Dima recovered after previous chemotherapy and had started the 5th round. He is in a "hospital" state of mind. Due to flu-related quarantine, the children cannot leave rooms and are feeling antsy.
Dima is planned to receive two more courses of Vincristine and further therapy will depend on test results.

Update as of December 27, 2009. The 5th chemotherapy block is over. Dima has very low blood counts, he is very weak, every day he has to get blood transfusions and injections of drugs that stimulate cell production. We struggle for every single blood count.
Dima is drawing a lot. Most of his drawings are animals of Australia and primeval people.
Father Frost, the Russian Santa Claus, visited Dima and brought him a wonderful book about insects.
Thank you very much AdVita and all sponsors.
Happy New Year dear friends!
Dima's mother

Update as of January 19, 2010. Dima spent the New Year and Christmas at home, and now he is back at the unit. Dima is feeling weak and has no appetite, but during the holidays he was stoically going for the half-hour walks around the house.
At home, with his brother and with great pleasure he was reading and looking at pictures of insects in the book that he got from Father Frost. On behalf of our whole family, I would like to express our gratitude to everyone who participated in meeting the wishes of the children of hospital No.31. It is particularly touching that our children's requests were considered with much care and attention - Dima has been dreaming about this book for a long time!
We also know that at the game room in the unit another book about animals is waiting for Dima. We do not know who brought this gift. Thank you very much for your care!
Dima had also studied with his teacher during the holidays and completed with 1st half of the year with good and excellent grades!
Once again, we would like to thank all the employees of hospital No.31, Advita fund and all our supporters.
Dima's mom

Update as of January 26, 2010. Dima started 6th cycle of chemotherapy. His temperature went up and he needs increased attention.
Trifoev family is thanking Elena who sent Dima an encyclopedia about animal world, and the Life as a Miracle group members for an amazing New Year present: history encyclopedia.
Dima dreams of becoming a paleontologist and enjoys reading books about biology and history and watching BBC nature programs.

Update as of February 5, 2010. Dima and his mom returned to the hospital today. He has low blood counts and fatigue. Dima lies down and does not feel very well. He cannot study for now.

Update as of February 20, 2010. Dima is in intensive care. He has developed a serious muscular weakness: the boy cannot sit up, turn over on his side or rise up. Dima is sensible but all his reactions are slow. The boy is being examined, a consultation with a neurologist has been scheduled. The doctors suspect it is intoxication due to chemotherapy. Enteral nutrition has not been prescribed yet. The only thing that somewhat distracts him and keeps him interested is movies about his favorite dinosaurs and animals in general.

Update as of April 3, 2010. Dima started swallowing by himself and he was taken off the feeding tube, although he is on a liquid diet for now. He is in a little better mood: Dima is interested in books again and loves to listen to stories about his favorite animals. But he gets tired easily, as he still has severe muscular weakness. He is in bed all the time, and does not get up, but can sit better. We are very thankful to the fund, volunteers and everyone who helps and supports us.
Dima's grandmother

Update as of April 30, 2010. Dima was allowed to go home. In the doctors' opinion, continuing chemotherapy would be dangerous due to serious life-threatening complications (toxic neuropathy with neurasthenic syndrome and myalgia). Dima was prescribed maintenance therapy and recommended courses of neurologic and orthopedic rehabilitation (physical therapy, massage and swimming). A course of massage will start after the May holidays. Dima's mom is very grateful to Svetlana for donating 10,000 rubles for the massage.

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