Cancer Kids Ukraine

Kovalchuk Nazar passed away on November 11, 2009.

From the archives

Nazar Kovalchuk, DOB February 23, 1991, acute lymphoblastic leukemia

On February 14, in the early morning, we got a phone call from Nazar’s mother, who said Nazar would need an allogenic bone marrow transplant from. An autogenous bone marrow transplantation will not make any difference because both his central nervous system and bone marrow got damaged. None of his relatives could be used as bone marrow donors for Nazar. The only option he has is bone marrow transplant from a non-related donor. It’s impossible to do that type of surgery in Ukraine. Nazar will need to go abroad (Russia, Germany, Italy, or Israel). He will have to pay more than $100,000 for the bone marrow transplant from a non-related donor. The only income of Nazar’s mother is about $100 a month. His father makes about $120 a month.

He is a construction worker. There have been a lot of layoffs in his company recently, which means that even his miserable wages are insecure. Nazar also has a sister but she is on a maternity leave. The surgery has to be done as soon as possible. Nazar has achieved the remission. It is dangerous to continue the supporting chemotherapy for Nazar because he has problems with his liver. On top of that, the whole organism gets intoxicated and he has fever all the time. As a result, he has to take antibiotics, which again affect the liver. It’s a vicious circle. The only thing that can help Nazar break this circle is bone marrow transplantation from a non-related donor that has to be done as soon as possible. We have already started negotiations with a clinic in St. Petersburg. Now we are waiting from an invoice, which will have to pay. Help us, please.

Nazar is a second year student of the College of Commerce and Economy in Kiev. He studies at the Department of Finance. He used to be just one of the millions of students, with his own successes and difficulties that seemed so insuperable. However, the real difficulties started in December 2007, when he was hospitalized to the Institute of Oncology with the diagnosis of malignant thymoma. After two blocks of chemotherapy the malignant thymoma went away. However, the doctors found blasts in his blood. As a result, they had to change the diagnosis. Now it is acute lymphoblastic leukemia, T-linear, first acute stage.

Right now Nazar is at the specialized children’s cancer hospital in Kiev. On March 30, 2008, he had a surgery done due to necrosis of the blind intestine with enterobrosia. He had fever for almost two months after the surgery (at least 38.6 degrees C). Now Nazar is in critical condition because his liver and both kidneys are affected by the fungal infection. His parents are taking turns in staying with their son at the hospital. It’s a very friendly Christian family. All of them started attending the arts and crafts classes organized at the hospital by the volunteers. Nazar is a very gifted person, which doesn’t suprise us because his mother makes beautiful embroidery and his elder sister (she is a philology student) paints really well. When we look at this family, we feel both happy and sad at the same time. We feel sad because Nazar’s family cannot pay for the following antifungal medications, which he desperately needs: 20 vials of Vifend (1 vial costs approximately $150) and 10 vials of Cancidas (1 vial costs approximately $800). Although Nazar’s classmates raised some money for him, it won’t be enough to pay even for 2 vials of Cancidas. They don’t have anybody else to help them. Please help Nazar and his family. They really need your support.

You can reach Nazar’s mother Stephania at +38 066 778 90 07