Mark Shipulya has passed away
By admin. Filed in News |
Mark Shipulya passed away on August 12 at about 3:30 p.m. This boy carried his cross with humility and patience up to the very last moment of his life.
From the archives
Mark Shipulya, DOB May 8, 1993, tumor (stage IV) of the left optic thalamus with spreading into the left lateral ventricle, hydrocephaly
Mark has been having headaches since early childhood. He also used to vomit quite often. But the doctors said he had problems with his stomach. As to the headaches, a lot of people have them, they said. When Mark turned 11 years old, these symptoms became more and more frequent. Although Mark’s parents took him to the hospital many times, he was treated only for his stomach and headaches.
Only when he started losing vision three months ago and after passing out in February, the doctors suspected some more serious problems. The tomography done in Dnepropetrovsk has shown a brain tumor. They say Mark had a congenital tumor, which started growing faster during the puberty. Now it has grown to a life-threatening size. The tumor also caused accumulation of the liquid in his brain. As a result, Mark fell into a coma. The doctors in Dnepropetrovsk refused to give him either a treatment or a surgery. In order to save Mark’s life, his parents took all their savings and went to Kiev. On March 18, 2009, Mark had a surgery done. The doctors removed part of the tumor. Unfortunately, the results of the histological analysis have shown that it’s a isostructural glioblastoma with multiple hemorrhages and necroses. The doctors in Kiev have done everything they could. Now Mark needs further treatment at the local hospital. He still has part of the tumor left, which may continue growing. The cancer hospital in Donetsk agreed to admit Mark for the course of radiotherapy on the linear accelerator. He will also need to take Temodal, which is very effective in treating glioblastoma. As soon as Mark can walk again, he will go to Donetsk. If he needed just the radiotherapy, his parents wouldn’t ask us for help. But Mark needs Temodal, which costs about $7,375 (he needs 9 packages of this medication). Mark’s parents say they need to use any chance, even if it’s only one chance out of a thousand, to save his life. Please, help them do it.