Cancer Kids Ukraine

Natasha and Roman Zharko have three wonderful sons, who are 6 years old, 3 years old, and 4 months old. Andrei is almost 6 years old. He is the oldest child. Usually, the elder children have difficult lives: they get punished for the misbehavior of the younger siblings, they have to grow up faster, to babysit their younger brothers and sisters. But Andrei had to face much more difficult challenges: he fell sick with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in September 2006.

The symptoms were very common – increased fatigability, pain in his arms and legs, weight loss. Andrei was referred to the children’s hematology department in Kiev right away. At that time, he had 52% of blasts in his blood. For the next nine months Andrei had to stay at the hospital undergoing chemotherapy. Upon completion of the treatment, Andrei was classified as a patient with low risk (80% survival rate without a relapse). All he had to do was to undergo the supporting therapy for a year and a half. When the course of the supporting therapy was over, Andrei had a puncture done, the last control puncture, in order to confirm the complete recovery. Unfortunately, the doctors had to tell Andrei’s parents some other news – he had a combined relapse, i.e., the blasts were found both in the bone marrow and in the central nervous system. Andrei was admitted to the hospital again. As of today, he has completed two blocks of chemotherapy. He needs 2 or 3 more blocks. Then he will need a bone marrow transplant from a nonrelated donor. Unfortunately, neither of his two brothers matched him as donors. Bone marrow transplantation from a nonrelated donor can be done only abroad. It’s a very expensive procedure. It costs from $100,000 to $200,000, depending on the country and age of the child. Up until now, his parents were paying for Andrei’s treatment themselves. But it is obvious that they won’t be able to pay for bone marrow transplantation from a nonrelated donor on their own. Natasha is on a maternity leave (her youngest son is only 4 months old). Roman is the only one who works in their family. But he has to support five people with his wages. Now, on top of that, Andrei needs a bone marrow transplant from a nonrelated donor. Andrei’s parents are putting the paperwork together to send it to different clinics. As soon they get a response and an invoice, we will publish them on the website.

You can reach Andrei’s mother Natasha at +38 097 291 7326

Account number: 26201885077

Name: Zharko Roman

Address: Kiev

Details of payment: Help

Beneficiary’s bank: Kiev Regional Direction

OJSC RAIFFEISEN BANK AVAL

KIEV, UKRAINE

SWIFT: AVALUAUKCKB

Correspondent bank:

Currency	Correspondent bank	SWIFT-code	Account number
USD	Deutsche Bank Trust Company, New York, USA	BKTR US 33	04-400-503
	The Bank of New-York,New York, USA	IRVT US 3N	890-0260-688
	Wachovia Bank N.A., New York	PNPB US 3NNYC	2000193004429
	American Express Bank Ltd,New York, USA	AEIB US 33	729616