Hello!
My son Vasya Semenov is 14 years old. Our family lives in St. Petersburg. In October 2007 Vasya felt pain on the left side of his chest. Several times he visited a pediatrician in Policlinic #72. Every time, Vasya was diagnosed with a viral respiratory infection, and the doctor recommended him to keep warm. He was never offered X-ray or fluorography. Our boy lost weight, felt unwell and weak, but kept going to school. At school he repeatedly visited nurse, but he received no help and was sent back to the class.
On December 28, 2007 after he came home from school, Vasya he felt very unwell, had a shortness of breath and felt extreme weakness. Just a week before, he stayed home sick and on December 21 he was sent back to school. All winter holidays he stayed in bed, felt weak and ate very little. On January 13th his temperature rose up to 39C, and our boy started coughing and fighting for breath. We called pediatric ambulance. The doctor made an injection and left, and did not refer him to the hospital.
On January 14th our pediatrician visited us but found nothing serious. In the evening Vasya again started having difficulty breathing and complained of strong pains in the chest and heart area. His temperature rose up to 39C. This time we called two ambulance teams – adult and pediatric. The adult ambulance came quickly; the doctors gave Vasya an injection and an electrocardiogram and told us that everything is OK and we should not panic.
At that moment the pediatric emergency team arrived. They were told everything is clear by the adult ambulance team and all the doctors left. But we did not stop there. Vasya's dad caught up with the doctor from the pediatric ambulance and asked him to examine our son and take him to Kolpino Children's Hospital.
Vasya was taken to Kolpino Children's Hospital #22 with a diagnosis of acute respiratory infection and a temperature of 38 C. At the hospital, Vasya had two X-rays done in two areas. His mom was sent home without being informed of the results of the X-rays.
On January 5, Vasya's mom was called to see the head physician of the unit where Vasya was staying. Our boy was in a serious condition. He couldn’t walk, had vomiting, intoxication of his body and high temperature – 39 C. The doctors couldn't determine the diagnosis. It was decided to transfer our boy to pediatric hospital for further examination.
On January 16, 2008 at the 3rd Surgery unit of Children's Pediatric hospital, Vasya had CT scan and the bone marrow puncture. Then Vasya was moved to the intensive care. His condition was very grave, while he still had no diagnosis…
On January 18, 2008 Vasya was transferred to the Pediatric Oncology unit of City hospital #31 for further treatment. On January 22, 2008 he underwent an urgent operation, during which his pericardium and 2/3 of his left lung were removed. The operation lasted for about six hours. The tumor was found to be malignant. After the operation Vasya's diagnosis was determined: germinogenous secreting mediastinal tumor.
Our son was prescribed four chemotherapy blocks. Vasya doesn't tolerate the treatment very well. He is feeling very unwell, became irritable, eats little and lost 15 kg. He is now in cytopenia. He needs a lot of testing, which we have to pay for.
Vasya is a late and only child in our family. I am 46 and my husband is 59, is disabled and cannot work. He left his work just two years before the retirement age. He used to work as an ambulance driver. My husband has hypertension and needs medical care himself. I don't work now because I am staying in the hospital with my son. Our elderly parents also depend on us.
Please help us financially.

Margarita and Victor, Vasya's parents.
Home address:
196641, St. Petersburg, pos. Metallostroy,
ul. Maksima Gorkogo, d. 4, kv. 85
Contact phone:
+7 (812) 464-7886 (Viktor, Vasya's dad)

Medical conclusion #1: page 1, page 2
Medical conclusion #2

Update as of April 4, 2008. Vasya was injected with the 3rd chemotherapy block drugs. The doctors are concerned by his liquid retention (up to 1.5 liters).

Update as of April 22, 2008. Vasya's family urgently needs financial help! His mom has a very difficult time coping alone, as Vasya’s father needs to be cared for as well. Vasya is undergoing the 4th chemotherapy block and he is feeling unwell: he is vomiting, has severe stomachache, and lacks appetite.

Update as of April 30, 2008. Vasya's blood counts plummeted. He also has no appetite, vomiting, low leukocytes and nosebleeds. Vasya feels unwell due to dizziness and sleepiness.

Update as of May 15, 2008. Vasya completed treatment, had all the planned tests that confirmed remission and was discharged from the hospital. The next planned examination will be in three months.

Update as of December 7, 2008. Vasya completed testing in November. Everything is well. He studies at school according to an individual program. At the end of January he will need to undergo CT scan.

Update as of October 15, 2009. Vasya feels well. He is a student in 11th grade. Although he skipped a year due to his illness, Vasya managed to catch up with his class.
Vassily goes for tests once every six months. The next round of tests is scheduled for the end of October. He will need to go for MRI scan and check his blood.

Update as of December 31, 2009. Vasya is currently at Pediatric Academy. He needed to undergo another examination at hospital No.31, but due to quarantine there, he was referred to Pediatric Academy.
Based on test results, he is in remission. However, Vasya's cardiogram results were not so good, so he was transferred to cardiology unit for further tests. During the testing, Vasya had a serious cold and for a week stayed at infectious diseases unit. He is now back at cardiology.
At home, Vasya's family is also in a difficult situation. Vasya's father is disabled - he does not feel very well and cannot leave the house. Vasya's mom also got seriously sick last week and has to stay at home. There is no one else to care for Vasya, so he stays at the hospital by himself and talks to his mom on the phone.
Vasya is a great guy! He is a very independent and responsible young man. But even when his mom is healthy, she cannot stay at the hospital around the clock. She is the only breadwinner in the family and has to go to work. Often she cannot get a sick leave to care for Vasya, and Vasya's and his father's disability pensions are paltry and cannot cover living expenses and treatment.
Please help Vasya's family that is facing such a difficult financial situation!

Update as of January 26, 2010. Vasya's examination at the Cardiology unit of Pediatric Academy did not find any serious issues. Vasya feels well. He was discharged and is at home already.
Vasya's father feels better too. His mom is enormously grateful to the participants of web forum St. Petersburg's Parents for the money and gift for Vasya.

Update as of April 15, 2010. Vasya is feeling ok but sometimes he is very weak. He is under a neurologist's and cardiologist's control and is getting the necessary maintenance therapy. Vasya's vision has deteriorated a lot, and the eye doctor thinks it is congenital astigmatism. As far as his basic disease goes the next examination at Hospital 31 is scheduled for May.
The family is still in a difficult financial situation. Vasya's mother has been on sick leave for a month, she has serious health issues (related to gynecology and hemogenesis) and constantly has a low hemoglobin (up to 80) and high platelet count.
Consultation with a hematologist is scheduled for April 14. Vasya's father is feeling a little better, he has been discharged from hospital. He can go outside for a short while and is beginning to talk. Vasya's uncle has broken his hip, and there are no other relatives.
The family still needs financial support badly!

Update as of March 11, 2011. Vasya enrolled into a technical school but had to take academic leave due to health issues (side effects of chemotherapy). He stays mostly at home and studies a little. Next year he plans to return to the evening classes in technical school. The tests he had in January (CT scan and blood and urine tests) had shown that everything is well.

Donate online >>>

Wire transfer to AdVita Charitable Foundation bank accounts

  * - Please specify your name and how we can keep in touch with you. We also need the letter from you with the following data: your full name (name of organization), address, phone (fax), goal of donation, date, signature (seal).
Please use on of the following applications: in russian, in english, in german.

** - If money amount are transfered by the third party we kindly ask you to show in the letter which firm would transfer the sum of money (by our request money transfer would be performed by firm....

If you would like to transfer money through Western Union, please contact site administrator.

If something wrong in the table below or you don't see reference on your donation, please keep in touch with site administrator.

If you would like to help us collect money for Vasya's treatment, please e-mail to the site administrator and write your name, or company name, payment number, time and place of money transfer. This information will help us to account for money collection and inform you about every donation. Please don't forget to tell us about your donation. We need to make sure that every donation reaches its intended recipient.

List of Patients

Search: