Serezha died on January 31, 2012

Another Serezha's photo

Hello!
Serezha Popov is 11. He was born on September 30, 1998. He is kind, quiet and positive, and loves reading and playing on computer. He loves his sisters very much. Before he got sick, Sergei was active in sports – soccer, biking and skating. He also enjoyed running, jumping and climbing trees. And now he understands that he cannot play those games anymore and sincerely believes that one day he will recover and will play like other kids.
We learned about Serezha's illness by accident. His adenoid glands had to be removed and we went to the hospital. After he had a blood test, strangely, we were referred to a hematologist. It turned out that our son had aplastic anemia. It was hard to believe because we never noticed anything out of ordinary in his health. Serezha was hospitalized and in a week he started developing nosebleeds and bruises all over his body. Serezha has been on treatment for two years, but there was no positive result. For this reason, he was referred to St. Petersburg for consultation regarding unrelated bone marrow transplantation. Unfortunately, Serezha's sisters did not match as his donors. It means that we need to raise 15,000 euros for the bone marrow donor search at the International registry, and additional 2,500 euros for delivery of transplant.
We live in a village of Elita in Moskalensky district of Omsk region. We cannot raise this much money on our own. We are grateful in advance to those who can help us with anything.

Larisa, Serezha's mom

Bill for the donor search in Germany
Medical report #1
Medical report #2: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, page 5

Update as of May 29, 2009. We are sincerely grateful to Russian Help Fund for paying 10,000 Euros for transplant collection. We now need to Raise 5,000 Euros for the donor search and 2,500 Euros for the delivery of transplant.

Update as of August 17, 2009. Serezha needs weekly transfusions of blood and platelets. On Monday, after transfusions, he feels well, but by Friday, he blood counts drop and he starts feeling worse. A donor for Serezha was not yet found, but he has many potential donors, so we can hope that a donor will be found soon enough.

Update as of October 2, 2009. Serezha and his parents came to St. Petersburg. He is now undergoing testing prior to the transplantation that was scheduled for October 17th. While Serezha's father is looking for a job in St. Petersburg, the family needs financial support.

Update as of October 13, 2009. I am now with my husband and son in St. Petersburg. Transplantation is scheduled for November 11. Once a week, Serezha receives platelet transfusions and r-mass. Our family is now in an extremely difficult financial situation. At home, in Omsk, Serezha's two sisters aged 2 and 9 are staying with their grandmother and live on her pension.
Their grandmother is on disability after surviving cancer, and it is difficult for her to care for two young kids. My husband has not yet been able to find a job in St. Petersburg. Please help my husband find a job, and then we will be able to bring our youngest daughter here.
Please also help us with buying food, and paying for current tests and apartment rent.
Larisa, Serezha's mom

Update as of November 3, 2009. Serezha has fever and he takes antibiotics. Transplantation was scheduled for November 12.

Update as of December 8, 2009. Serezha recovered after transplantation. His blood counts rose, condition improved and he started eating. Serezha's mom asked us to express an enormous gratitude to all his supporters who constantly add money to their cell phone account. For Serezha and his parents, it is very important to stay in touch with home where they have two of Serezha's sisters with their grandmother.

Update as of January 28, 2010. Serezha feels well. He was transferred to outpatient monitoring. During testing, he was diagnosed with aspergillosis, so he now needs Vfend therapy (400 mg daily).

Update as of February 4, 2010. Due to hormonal therapy, Serezha developed steroid diabetes. He is at the hospital where he receives insulin. He also still needs Vfend.

Update as of March 3, 2010. Sergei is at the hospital under the doctors' watch. He feels well and his blood counts are stable. Sergei is continuing long-term immunosuppressive therapy, during which he needs to continue taking Vfend.

Update as of April 3, 2010. Serezha is continuing immunosuppressive therapy. He was transferred to outpatient monitoring. Serezha needs NovoRapid insulin pens for insulin injections. He complains of pains in his legs and has difficulty walking.

Update as of June 4, 2010. Serezha is being taken off hormones gradually, and his appetite is decreasing. His sugar level is normal and insulin injections were canceled. If he feels well and has good test results after hormonal therapy is canceled, Serezha will be allowed to go home for two months. He still needs Vfend.

Update as of July 14, 2010. I would like to thank everyone who is helping us! Our family is in a very difficult financial situation and we are very grateful for any amount of money that we receive in our bank account. Serezha is now better and we were allowed to stay at home until September 2010. However, he still continues to take the same medications, including Vfend. We are hoping for your continuing support. Thanks!
Serezha's mom

Update as of October 4, 2010. Serezha came for control tests in St. Petersburg. He feels rather well. The test results are within low norm, and the results of the puncture are not yet available.

Update as of November 3, 2010. Due to Serezha's blood counts drop, he underwent therapy with MabThera and was re-started on injections of hormones. Now his leukocyte and hemoglobin counts are growing, while platelets are staying the same. On November 1st he had a puncture, and we are waiting for results.
Serezha's mom

Update as of December 6, 2010. Serezha's chimerism (percentage of donor's bone marrow) went down, and blood counts plummeted. To prevent rejection of donor's bone marrow, an infusion of donor's lymphocytes is planned at the end of December.
Serezha goes for daily IVs to the day hospital.
Serezha's mom

Update as of December 9, 2010. Serezha's doses of immunosuppressive drugs are being gradually reduced. His blood counts are improving too. However, based on puncture results, he has mixed chimerism - that is bone marrow has both Serezha's and donor's cells. Infusion of donor's lymphocytes is planned for the end of December.

Update as of December 13, 2010. Bill for donor's lymphocytes

Update as of December 29, 2010. Serezha's hemoglobin started to drop so it was decided to cancel lymphocyte infusion and begin a course of hormones in the day hospital. I want to express a sincere gratitude to everyone for the help! God bless you with health!
Serezha's mother

Update as of February 28, 2011. Unfortunately, donor's lymphocyte infusion was not effective. It was decided to offer Serezha second bone marrow transplant from another unrelated donor. We are sincerely grateful to Russian Help Fund for helping to pay the bill for S. Morsch registry!
Serezha already started pre-transplantation chemotherapy and he is tolerating it well. The second transplantation is scheduled for March 4. We urgently need to raise 2,500 euros for delivery of transplant!

Update as of March 17, 2011. Serezha successfully underwent second bone marrow transplantation. It is the 12th day post-transplant, and Serezha is in cytopenia and shows signs of mucositis. CT scan showed fungal infection lesions in his lungs. Serezha receives Cancidas and Vfend.

Update as of May 3, 2011. Serezha is stil being monitored as an outpatient. The control puncture results show full engraftment of donor's bone marrow. However, his CMV titer rose and platelet count went down somewhat after initiation of antiviral therapy. Serezha feels well.

Update as of May 13, 2011. Serezha feels well. Based on the latest tests, cytomegalovirus titer is normal and Cymevene was canceled. Serezha is now receiving Vfend, Cyclosporine, and Cortisone. His test results are good, and there is no GVHD. After 100 days post-transplant, the doctors are planning to allow him to go home.

Update as of June 11, 2011. On May 15th Serezha's temperature rose and he was urgently hospitalized. The test results showed increase in C-reactive protein and creatinine in blood, and Serezha underwent therapy. Now the test results are normal and Serezha feels well. He was discharged to day hospital.
Serezha's mom
Other Serezha's photos

Update as of July 7, 2011. Unfortunately, Serezha has complications again: autoimmune cytopenia. He was prescribed hormonal therapy again and from time to time he needs t ransfusions. Serezha is monitored as a day patient and he feels well.

Update as of July 23, 2011. Serezha started Mabthera to treat autoimmune cytopenia. He has some improvement and hemoglobin and platelet counts in his blood are gradually increasing. Serezha is treated as an outpatient.

Update as of August 10, 2011. Serezha still has signs of autoimmune cytopenia. He is continuing Mabthera therapy. Serezha feels OK.

Update as of September 7, 2011. At the end of August, Serezha was diagnosed with cytomegalovirus. He received antiviral therapy, but on September 4th he was hospitalized with high C-reactive protein and a nosebleed. He is now at the hospital where he is receiving antibiotics and undergoing tests. Donor's bone marrow is working well, but due to an autoimmune process his platelets and red blood cells are being destroyed and he constantly needs transfusions of R-mass and plasma.

Update as of September 26, 2011. Serezha receives therapy against infection. C-reactive protein has gone down and he is stable. Blood transfusions are still needed.

Update as of October 3, 2011. We would like to thank AiF-Kind Heart fund for buying 12 packs of Vfend for Serezha for the total of 364,950 rubles.

Update as of October 31, 2011. Serezha is being monitored as an outpatient. His c-reactive protein count increased again and he takes Meronem medication. Based on control puncture, Serezha has complete donor's chimerism, but transplant is insufficiently functional. Serezha needs periodic blood transfusions.

Update as of November 10, 2011. Serezha is being monitored as a day patient and receives antibiotics. Based on test results, his bone marrow is still not functioning adequately. His doctors are consulting in regards to BUST procedure (support of transplant function with donor's stem cells). Further treatment now depends on whether the donor agrees to repeat harvesting of stem cells.

Update as of November 12, 2011. Serezha will undergo infusion of donor's stem cells on December 14th.

Update as of November 29, 2011. Serezha is still being monitored at the day hospital. Transplant is not functioning adequately, and signs of toxic kidney damage. He receives appropriate therapy. In the next few days we will need to pay for delivery of donor's cells for Serezha for 2500 euros. Please help!

Update as of December 30, 2011. Serezha fell and bumped his head. Since he had very low blood counts, he formed hematomas in his brain and had seizures. Infusions of donor's lymphocytes are postponed.

Update as of December 26, 2011. Serezha is sick with a sinus infection and was prescribed antibiotics: clindamycin, meropenem and tavanic. He was planned to undergo additional donor's stem cell infusion, but we got news from the international registry that his donor is expecting a baby and it makes harvesting of cells impossible. Further treatment is under discussion.

Update as of January 18, 2012. Serezha condition has become a lot worse, the boy is now on ALV and there are signs of a kidney failure.

Update as of January 24, 2012. Serezha's condition is unchanged. He is still on a ventilator with signs of kidney failure, in a serious condition.

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