Cancer Kids Ukraine

Vitaliy Lukashov passed away on May 25 at the intensive care unit in Kharkov.

From the archives

Vitaliy used to be a very active child. But in autumn 2006, he got fever (almost 40 degrees C). He had fever for a few days and then it went away. Vitaliy went back to school and things looked normal. But soon he got fever again. I got very worried about it. I also noticed that if Vitaliy got a bruise, it took a very long time for it to disappear. He also complained about stomach pain as well as pain in his legs. He was vomiting and was weak. We live in a village and Vitaliy has to walk long distance to school. He also used to run, jump, and ride a bike a lot. That’s why I thought he was just tired. However, I still took him to the hospital. The pediatrician said there were too many symptoms for an 8-year-old child. He also got myocarditis. The doctor suggested that Vitaliy should be hospitalized.

Then they started transferring Vitaliy from one hospital to another because they couldn’t diagnoze him. All his organs were affected. Things became clear after he had a blood test done. All his blood and bone marrow were affected with cancer cells. The doctors said if we waited for a couple more weeks, Vitaliy would die. It is so scary to realized that the life of your only child is in danger. Vitaliy started chemotherapy and had a lot of complications. His skin got dark all over his body. He had fever, diarrhea and vomiting. He couldn’t walk and I had to carry him everywhere. We were fighting for his life as much as we could. Vitaliy had many blocks of chemotherapy as well as radiotherapy on his head and bone marrow. Then he had a year and a half of supporting therapy in pills and injections. In May 2008, he completed treatment. It looked as if all the tough times were in the past. But alas… In late August, he was hospitalized again with a relapse. We had to start everything all over again. But this time things are much more complicated. Vitaliy has already completed two blocks of high-dose chemotherapy and achieved remission. In order to stabilized his condition, he needs several more blocks of chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. Only God knows what will happen next.

You can reach Vitaliy’s mother Elena at +38 096 922 7816