Hello,
In the past St. Petersburg was the place to where our son Zhenya was
eager to move: he wanted to enter Suvorov Military School. Now St. Petersburg
has become a city of hope, where our son can be cured.
We live in the Stavropol region, in the village of Levokumskoye.
Since childhood our son was dreaming of becoming a cadet of the Military
School in St. Petersburg. For us, people of modest means, living in the
deep country, it was almost an impossible dream. However, our son's wish
was great and we reached our goal - in 2009 Zhenya was enrolled
into Suvorov Military School. It seemed that his dream came true.
Zhenya planned for the future. He was very hardworking and obtained
a rank of vice-sergeant. He was also active in sports and played for
the school football team.
Unfortunately, the illness came out of nowhere… In early February 2011
Zhenya was hospitalized at Botkin infectious disease hospital and diagnosed
with acute myeloblastic leukemia. In early April my son was transferred
to the Raisa Gorbacheva Center of Pediatric Hematology and Transplantology.
I had to leave for St. Petersburg right away to be by my son. As of today
Zhenya has already had four cycles of chemotherapy, but a relapse occurred
during the treatment, right after the third cycle. Further therapy is
possible only with help of bone marrow transplantation from unrelated
donor, which means that we have to pay 15,000 euros to the International
Registry and 2,500 more euros for transplant delivery!
We do not know where to find that much money. I am a teacher in the
village school, and I do not work at the moment, as I stay in the hospital
with my son. My husband is a driver and his earnings are low. Zhenya
is our only child! We are ready to do anything so that Zhenya could recover!
But we will not be able to accomplish this without help of good people.
Please respond if you can help us!
Thank you in advance.
Galina, Zhenya's mother
Update as of August 10, 2011.
Zhenya completed the fifth chemotherapy cycle, and he is now in
cytopenia. Based on puncture prior to the cycle, he is in remission.
Zhenya feels rather well, but a donor has not been found yet.
Update as of October 31, 2011.
After the 5th cycle of chemotherapy, Zhenya was diagnosed
with chemoresistant relapse. It was decided to perform bone
marrow transplantation. A donor was found already, and transplantation
is scheduled for December 1.
Update as of December 15, 2011.
Transplantation went as scheduled, on December 1.
Zhenya is now recovering. For now he has severe mucositis
with damage to his mouth, fever, fatigue and pains.
Blood counts are increasing gradually. Yesterday Zhenya
was allowed to leave the room and walk along the hall for
the first time.
Update as of February 8, 2012.
After bone marrow transplantation, Zhenya had severe graft vs. host
disease and he received intensive therapy. GVHD is now under control,
but percentage of donor's cells in bone marrow plummeted, and
on February 1st Zhenya received donor's lymphocyte infusion
to stimulate donor's bone marrow. Hemoglobin and platelet counts
are low, and Zhenya is on constant blood transfusions.
He receives immunoglobulins, Cymevene, Albumin and Vfend.
Update as of March 11, 2012.
Zhenya still has hypo-functioning transplant, despite donor's
lymphocyte infusion and infusion of donor's bone marrow (BUST).
Due to low blood counts, CMV infection activated and Zhenya developed
breathing difficulty. He was transferred to a ventilator in ICU.
