Cancer Kids Ukraine

Oleg Senin came to Kiev four days ago. He has been staying at the Chernobyl Center. The doctors have confirmed the myelodysplastic syndrome. They also confirmed a need to perform the allogenic bone marrow transplantation. However, there is one ‘but’ in this story. The doctors in Kiev got shocked when they saw the results of Oleg’s blood tests. In short, he wasn’t receiving proper treatment while staying at the local hospital in Dnepropetrovsk. Oleg has to get regular blood transfusions now because he has almost zero thrombocyte count. The bone marrow transplantation is impossible with such a low thrombocyte count. He also has to take the medication that has just recently been developed for the treatment of the myelodysplastic syndrome. This medication induces the remission and maintains it for about a year. This drug also prevents the myelodysplastic syndrome from transforming into the leukemia. Oleg will need four courses of this medication that will cost more than $40,000 altogether.

 Oleg’s mother is in shock. She didn’t realize she would need to pay for the donor blood at this hospital (the lowest price for the donor blood is $125). Although Oleg has spent only four days in Kiev, he already paid almost $1,000 for his treatment there. Besides, the fundraising campaign for him has slowed down significantly. Neither Oleg nor his mother know what they have to do now: whether they have to spend all the money they managed to raised within six months on the medication that will give Oleg a chance to achieve the remission and to maintain it for a year or to take a risk and to keep raising the money for the allogenic bone marrow transplantation. The problem with the second option is that the myelodysplastic syndrome is a very insidious and unpredictable disease. As of today, Oleg and his mother have raised $35,000 (out of $170,000). We have only one month to raise the balance. We realize that it is almost impossible to raised such an amount within a month. However, we ask everyone to help us save Oleg’s life. There is no such thing as a small donation. Your every dollar will increase the chances of this 18-year-old guy, the chances to live!