Hello!
I am the mother of a little girl Karina, very loving and caring. On May 18
she turned 8. Karina was born healthy. She hardly ever got sick. She has always
had an inquisitive mind, and she learned to read and write early. Karina is very
communicative and gets on very well with people.
In September 2008 Karina got sick. She stopped eating and drinking, and her skin
became yellowish. I called for a doctor. We were first sent to an infectious
diseases hospital, but from there we went to the Kurgan Red Cross Regional
Children's Hospital. Based on the puncture results Karina was diagnosed with
acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The girl was administered several chemotherapy courses and discharged from hospital
in the end of March. In April Karina was administered radiation therapy. We spent
the summer enjoying life in the country. Karina was going outside in the morning and
not coming back home before the evening. After spending seven months in hospital
she could not get enough of the outside.
In October 2009 Karina had a sudden fever. I took her to her doctor right away.
My daughter had a puncture... Relapse. No one could believe that, not even the doctors.
Relapses cannot be treated in Kurgan, so we had to move to Ekaterinburg. Thank
God, chemotherapy resulted in another remission. But the doctors said that Karina
needed a bone marrow transplantation. We started looking for a donor for Karina,
and then it turned out that I am 98% compatible. This is a true miracle! The
doctors say that normally parents are only up to 50% compatible. But while I
was being examined Karina had another relapse. We were advised to go to St. Petersburg
without delay. This is our last hope!
Karina and I believe that everything is going to be fine! Especially since we
now know for sure that even in spite of such trouble true miracles do happen!
My dear daughter now has a chance to be healthy again, but we need money. I cannot
work because I am with Karina all the time. We need money to buy drugs (like
Intraglobin for example, which costs 15,000 roubles per bottle, and doctors
say we might need other drugs later on) and rent a flat in St. Petersburg.
Please help us! God bless you and your families with good health! Thank you
all in advance!
Update as of May 4, 2010.
Karina had a transplantation on April 29, 2010, with her mother's bone
marrow transplanted. At present Karina is feeling fine, the bone marrow
is taking on, the blood counts are getting back to normal.
Update as of May 31, 2010.
On May 24th Karina was diagnosed with a relapse post-transplant
(83% of blasts in blood and 94% in bone marrow). On May 28th Karina
had donor's lymphocyte infusion. She developed skin GVHD and her
skin is very itchy now. Her leukocyte count jumped drastically
and the doctors believe that it is due to blast crisis.
Karina is now very irritable. Today she wrote a list of her favorite
foods for her doctor. It has 24 lines in it, but only five
were allowed by the doctors.
Natalia, Karina's mom
Update as of August 4, 2010.
Unfortunately, donor's bone marrow never engrafted. Today Karina had
the third stem cell infusion. She is not feeling well and
suffers from leg pains.
Karina's mom
