Cancer Kids Ukraine

Angelina Sukhetskaya passed away on June 7, 2009.

Lesya Piskalenko passed away this morning at the intensive care unit. Her journey was very long and very difficult. We wouldn’t able to take it. That’s why God didn’t give this cross to us, weak people. He gave it to Lesya, who carried it with meekness and humility to the end. Now she is with Jesus Christ.

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For as long as we have known this girl, she has always been in pain. It looked as if pain became a part of her identity and had some power over her. Lena was enduring a severe pain. It may seem that her death means the victory of the disease over this girl, rather than the victory of her spirit. But is it true? Is everything we see with our eyes an absolute truth? Jesus said, “My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Lena died a death of the chosen saints. We as Christians can only dream about a death like that: she passed away immediately after a confession followed by a communion.

We have raised half of the amount Angelika needs for the surgery at Burdenko Institute in Moscow. Since we don’t know all the sponsors, we will mention here only the donations we are aware of: an anonymous sponsor from Kharkov - $670, Delroy and Heather Cowan (Cancer Kids Foundation, USA) - $200, Irene - $120, an anonymous sponsor from Kiev - $130, Gennadiy - $670. Thank you very much!!! The charity foundation Zhizn (Life) from Moscow agreed to pay the balance. On June 11, Angelika’s mother will contact the neurosurgeon (Dr. Kushel) to find out the exact date of the surgery.

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More than three years ago, Alyona Mischenko didn’t take her daughter Alina to the hospital for the next block of chemotherapy. Alina completed only a very small part of treatment. When the doctor tried to reach Alina’s mother at home, someone told her that this family moved out without letting anybody know where they moved in. Yesterday, I met Alina and her aunt at the hospital. Her mother wasn’t there, probably because of embarrassment. But the most amazing thing in this story is that Alina is alive and well. It’s the second case in Kherson.

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Yesterday I met Vlad Krylov and his mother. He started the third block of high-dose Metotreksat. Vlad wasn’t able to go home for a few days between the blocks of chemotherapy because he had a very low blood count, stomatitis, and fever. He had to stay at the hospital. On June 1, Vlad had a lot of fun running around and playing soap bubble game with other kids. He was one of the most active participants of the party we organized at the hospital on the occasion of the International Children’s Day.

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Lesya Piskalenko continues treatment at the hospital in Poltava. She regularly needs blood donors (B+). She also needs money for the treatment. Lesya was prescribed Venoimun (immunoglobulin human normal for intravenous introduction). Each vial of Venoimun costs about $80. She needs money for the antibiotics as well. The money Lesya’s mother has left can cover only one day of treatment. What’s next? Next is hope that God and us will not leave Lesya all by herself in this uneasy fight against the disease.

Vitaliy Lukashov passed away on May 25 at the intensive care unit in Kharkov. (more…)

On June 1, Yaroslav Rozovskiy came to the hospital for a routine checkup. Instead, the computer tomography revealed metastases in both lungs alongside with the progression of the disease (kidney cancer). Everyone is shocked. Yaroslav has to go to the Nuclear Medicine Institute in Kiev for the consultation as soon as possible. However, his parents don’t have money even for the tickets, not to mention the treatment. Yaroslav has been sick for almost three years. His father, Eugene, tried to pay for Yaroslav’s treatment on his own. He even used to help other children saying, “Someone is in worse shape than us.” But now he is asking for help. Yaroslav is their only child. Please, help this family.

The results of the analyses Katya Strashinskaya had done showed a virus (not fungus) in her lungs. She has a very severe virus infection. The doctors don’t even know how she got it. This type of infection is usually experienced by the children after the bone marrow transplantation. Most likely, Katya got this infection with the donor blood. This type of infection is so rare that the laboratories don’t even check the donor blood for it. Katya is still at the intensive care unit. Her mother was allowed to spend several minutes with her today. Katya cannot talk and doesn’t breathe on her own. She is getting an artificial lung ventilation.

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How could we know that the liver biopsy (puncture) could be such a hazardous procedure?! Last Tuesday, Natasha Lan’ came to Kiev for one day to have a computer tomography of the liver done. Unfortunately, the computer tomography confirmed the growth of a large tumor (9cm) on her liver. The doctors decided to do the liver biopsy. That’s when the misfortunes started. At first, the doctors wanted to do a biopsy right away, without having a blood work done. Natasha’s mother insisted on doing the blood test first. The results of the blood test were not good: Natasha’s thrombocyte count was under 60,000. It is too low to perform the biopsy because it would be impossible to stop the bleeding.

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Katya Strashinskaya is still at the intensive care unit. For three days, her condition was grave but stable. Yesterday, the doctors noticed the first signs of improvement in her condition. Katya’s mother didn’t see her daughter for 4 days. She is not allowed to be at the intensive care unit. Katya gets the transfusions of the erythrocyte and thrombocyte concentrate every day. She still needs the blood donors (A+). But the main problem right now is that Katya’s mother doesn’t have money to buy the medications for her daughter.

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Alexander Shtilik urgently needs financial support. He needs money not for “bread and butter” but for blood. Alexander’s parents have to buy blood for him at the blood bank. Last Friday, Alexander had a liver biopsy done. Before this procedure, he received a transfusion of the thrombocyte concentrate so that the blood could coagulate. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. On Saturday, Alexander was transferred to the intensive care unit with the internal hemorrhage. On Monday night he was transferred back into his ward. However, the bleeding has not stopped yet. Altogether, he has already lost more than 1500ml of blood. Alexander’s parents were able to find some blood donors. But they still have to buy R-concentrate. They don’t have any money at all, not even to buy the donor blood for their son. Please, help them.

Anna Tverdokhleb passed away on May 29. She endured a lot of suffering, including two relapses of the acute lymphoblastic leukemia, endless blocks of chemotherapy, hospitals, hospitals, and hospitals for the last five years of her life. She was one of the first children registered on our website several years ago. Anna was 9 years old.

Aleksei Lavrinenko completed the chemotherapy prescribed to him after the first relapse. He achieved a remission and started the radiotherapy. Everything went all right. He was supposed to complete the radiotherapy this week. But today he was diagnozed with the second relapse. Early. Very early. We still want to believe things are not that bad. But the reality is that Aleksei was in remission for only one month. The situation is very complicated and serious. Please, pray for this boy.

Here is an email we got from Nadezhda Chernomorchenko, our volunteer in Kherson. “Today I had a chance to talk to the mother of Angelika Yakovleva, a 10-year-old girl from Sumy region. I am not in charge of this kid as a volunteer because Angelika lives far from Kherson, where I live. But it happens quite often that volunteers support the children from different regions of the country and keep in touch with their parents. I didn’t call Angelika’s mother out of idleness. I called her to let her know about the money I got for her. The money was sent by Delroy and Heather Cowan from the Cancer Kids Foundation (USA), who help Ukrainian children sick with cancer on a regular basis. This time they sent $200 to Angelika, alongside with sending donations to other children. I promised to find out the latest news about Angelika and to publish it on the website. (more…)

Julia Romenskaya has resumed the treatment at the Cancer Institute in Kiev under the protocol prescribed for the osteoblastic sarcoma. She had the liquid drained from her lungs twice. Then the doctors inserted a drainage there. She was also administered the chemotherapy right into her lungs. Now Julia is undergoing the high-dose chemotherapy. The further treatment will depend on her condition after the chemotherapy.

The art studio at the Cancer Institute in Kiev invites everyone to join their classes held every Tuesday and Friday at 1 p.m. We would also appreciate the donations of the arts and crafts supplies for this studio.

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Anna Alekseyevets is completing the first protocol, which means more than two months of severe chemotherapy. Not much has changed in Anna’s life during these two months: every time we come to see her she looks very sad. She always seems to be on the edge of crying. I was amazed to see a smile on her face when I was taking her picture today. Unfortunately, Anna is still unable to walk. Let’s hope that it’s just the side effect of Vincristine and eventually she will start walking little by little. A couple of other kids (Roman Sytnik and Vlad Krylov) had the same problem, which disappeared in time. The main entertainment for Anna is watching the cartoons on TV. A couple of days ago, Natasha (one of our volunteers in Kherson) brought Vincristine for Anna that was purchased by the employees of one of the branches of the bank AVAL. Thank you very much!

Victoria Skoser has finished the complete protocol of chemotherapy. Both Victoria and her mother hoped to go home but it turned out to be not as easy as they thought. Victoria got a very low thrombocyte, neutrocyte, hemoglobin, and leukocyte count. As a result, her body got covered all over with hematomas.

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Yesterday, we got a call from Marina, Constantine’s sister. She asked for help. They have no money at all, not even for food. Marina spent all the donations she got on the medications. Constantine is undergoing the chemotherapy now. The doctors say he is in a moderately severe condition. He may need blood transfusions at any moment. But Marina doesn’t have money to pay for the donor blood. If you can, please help Constantine. He desperately needs your help. Just to remind you, Constantine Koval is 16 years old. He has been staying at the hospital in Kiev for four months together with his 21-year-old sister Marina, who became a mother for him. Marina had to take her 4-year-old daughter to the hospital as well because she doesn’t have anyone who could stay with her at home. The only income of Constantine, Marina, and her daughter is Marina’s wages (less than $100 a month). In fact, she doesn’t get even that now because she had to take a leave to look after her brother at the hospital.

Slava Voroshilov still has a low blood count – leukopenia (low leukocyte count). Yesterday, the thrombocyte count was 17. After the blood transfusion his thrombocyte count improved a little bit (40). His hemoglobin count is 60-65. Slava still has to wear a gauze mask at all times, which became an essential accessory also for his parents, even when they sleep. It is very important to wear it because any infection or cold can become life-threatening for Slava. In spite of the low blood count, Slava doesn’t feel that bad. He has appetite and watches cartoons, just like any other children.

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Katya Strashinskaya was transferred to the intensive care unit today. She was just fine yesterday at the art therapy class (see the picture). But last night her breath got shallow and irregular. The doctor on duty transferred Katya to the ward with an oxygen support. But soon after that Katya’s condition got even worse and she was transferred to the intensive care unit. The doctors say Katya’s condition is caused either by the fulminant pneumonia or by the mycotic lesion in her lungs. Most likely, it’s the second second problem because she got an extensive mycotic lesion on her lips and in her mouth.

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Angela Yakovleva says thank you to everyone who responded to her request for help. Just to remind you, Angela needs $8,000 for the urgent surgery in Moscow, at Burdenko Institute, due to a very rapid growth of the tumor. As of today, she has $272 on her account plus $300 she got just recently from Andrew who lives in the USA. Thank you very much! However, it’s less than 10% of what Angela needs. Although she is a grown up girl (if we can say it about a 10-year-old child), she doesn’t understand that each day of waiting for the surgery reduces her chances to live.

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Today we would like to introduce you to several children undergoing treatment at the hematology department of the Nuclear Medicine Research Center in Kiev. We’ll start from the youngest patient – Maxim German. Maxim is 4 years old. He has been staying at the hospital for almost a year. Regardless of all the sufferings he had to endure, Maxim is still a very fidgety boy. It turned out to be a real challenge to talk to him. That’s what he told us, “I like pizza very much but my mother doesn’t give it to me. That’s why I like borsch now. I also like Lego and a fire truck.” Then he ran away. We learned the rest of the story from his mother, “Maxim has completed the third protocol. Now he is recovering after it. I hope this protocol will be the last one and we will go home soon. However, Maxim still has to continue treatment with Metotreksat and Puri-Nethol. (more…)

On May 7, Tanya Dmitruk completed the last block of chemotherapy. She didn’t have any complications. However, on May 22, around 7 a.m., Tanya lost consciousness and got seizures. The doctors were able to bring her back to consciousness. However, Tanya got very low thrombocyte count. She has almost no thrombocytes in her blood. Our own hope is that she won’t start bleeding. Otherwise, her life will be in danger. Tanya’s mother goes to the hemotransfusion station every day trying to get the donor blood for her daughter.

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Artyom Vitruk has completed two blocks of high-dose chemotherapy. Now he is having a break, which will be used for improving his blood count. On June 8, he has to go to Moscow for MBG examination. If it shows that he doesn’t have any living cancer cells, the doctors will schedule a surgery for the removal of the tumor. But it will be the next step. Right now Artyom’s parents are worried about raising the money for the MBG examination. They need $700. Please, help them raise the money Artyom needs.

We would like to say thank you to the sponsors from the Forester Club Subaru for purchasing the medications (3 vials of Granocyte and 3 packages of adhesive pads) for the children undergoing treatment at the cancer hospital in Kiev. Our young patients need Granocyte on a regular basis. It’s a vitally important medication. The cancer hospital in Kiev has a lot of other needs. If you would like to help this hospital, please contact us for more information (we will give you a list of medications the patients at this hospital need).

The doctors in Moscow refused to give Igor Savchenko a surgery. Instead, they prescribed him two more blocks of chemotherapy with Cosmegen. Igor has already completed the first block. His parents have sent the medical records to the hospital in Singapore, where the doctors will take a decision about the possibility of performing the surgery. The problem is Igor’s ribs got affected by the cancer as well. It means that the surgery has to be more extensive. That’s why the doctors in Moscow refused to give it to Igor. Igor still needs your financial support. He needs 8 vials of Cosmegen ($60 each). He also needs money for the computer tomography: syringe for the injector ($40) and contrast agent ($40).

A couple of days ago we asked you to pray for Nikolai Sholomnitskiy. Thank you for your prayers: Nikolai feels a little bit better now. The problem was in his brain: a blood vessel broke and the resulting hematoma compressed the brain. Yesterday, Nikolai was seen by the doctor from the Neurosurgery Institute. Using a syringe, he took 10ml of blood out of the hematoma. He will drain the rest of it on Monday. Although Nikolai needs a surgery, the doctors think he is too weak and won’t be able to survive it. The blood taken from the hematoma was sent to the cytologic analysis. Now we are waiting for the results. Yesterday Nikolai recovered consciousness. He tries to talk and to move his hands and feet. We hope for the best!

Bogdan Shinder continues treatment at the Cancer Institute in Kiev. On May 28, he started the seventh block of chemotherapy. He was supposed to start it a week ago but had a very low blood count. Prior to the sixth block, his blood count improved by itself. This time, Bogdan had to receive the thrombocyte concentrate. From May 12 to May 24, Bogdan was staying at the hospital with his father because his mother had to go home to take her daughter to the hospital. As we have mentioned on Bogdan’s personal page, his sister had difficulties coping with a number of problems: her mother’s sickness, her father’s accidental burn, her brother’s sickness, etc. As a result, she had headaches, easy fatigability, and joint pain. The doctors suspected rheumatoid arthritis. Thanks God, they were wrong. The girl has nervous system disorder and needs some sedatives. (more…)

Mark Shipulya didn’t make it to the hospital in Munich. On May 15, Mark’s parents took him to the Neurosurgery Institute in Kiev. On May 18, he had a surgery done there (the doctors inserted a drainage into his brain). Then the doctors found out that he had a purulent pneumonia. Mark was in a critical condition. He was unconscious for a few days. But on May 28, Mark was discharged from the intensive care unit to a regular ward. Now his parents are looking for a hospital that would agree to take Mark.

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Oleg Sukhenko has passed away. He had a hepatocellular carcinoma of the liver with metastases in the spine. He had been sick for more than three years. Oleg had four surgeries done. During the last surgery performed on May 26, 2009, he lost almost three liters of blood and had two cardiac standstills. Oleg passed away without being able to recover consciousness. He was 16 years old. (more…)

We finally got some news about Nastya Olkhovskaya. Just to remind you, Nastya’s mother, Marina,took her to Belarus (Minsk) for examination and treatment. Marina called us today to say that Nastya had a number of different analyses done. The most important analysis is a genetic test. It will show whether Nastya has the seventh (chimeric) chromosome or not. If she does, it will mean that Nastya most likely has a chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. If not, then she has something else. However, nobody knows what’s wrong with her. The results of the tests will be ready in two weeks. Nastya doesn’t feel well. She has fever all the time and receives the glucose and antibiotics.

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Angela’s mother came back from Moscow with bad news. First of all, the doctors confirmed a rapid growth of the tumor: it used to be 6cm, now it’s 12.5cm. In the second place, Angela’s condition got worse during the last two days. Now doesn’t feel her legs, cannot use the washroom, and is very weak. But the doctors in Moscow give her one more chance – an urgent surgery for the complete removal of the tumor, which the doctors in Ukraine failed to do. The surgery has to be followed by the high-dose chemotherapy. The surgery will cost about $4,400 plus approximately $600 for the medications, accommodations, and meals in Moscow. Angela’s family is financially exhausted. Please, help this girl. She wants to live!

Nikolai Sholomnitskiy is in critical condition. His mother is asking for the prayer support. Tomorrow Nikolai’s parents were supposed to take him to Moscow for the consultation. But today all of a sudden Nikolai’s condition got worse. His mother had to take him to the hospital in Kiev. Now Nikolai is at the intensive care unit, where the doctors are trying to get him out of coma, unsuccessfully as yet. Please, support Nikolai and his parents with your prayers. They are desperate…

Monday was Nikolai Fomenko’s birthday. He has been at home since last Friday. Nikolai and his mother were discharged from the hospital to have some rest for two weeks before going to Kiev for the allogenic bone marrow transplantation. He needs $5,000 more for this surgery. His mother and other relatives do their best in fundraising but they have not been successful because Nikolai has been prescribed very expensive medications just recently. Last week his condition got worse. Nikolai had to take Granosite and Grosalva. On Thursday, he had a blood transfusion. (more…)

Andrei came back to Kiev on Saturday night. He had to go to St. Petersburg for the examination at the Institute of the Pediatric Oncohematology. He had a puncture alongside with a number of cytologic and genetic tests done over there. The results will be ready next week. Unfortunately, they have not been able to find a compatible nonrelated bone marrow donor for Andrei, although they have been looking for it the last three months. They have decided to check the umbilical blood database in Moscow and Samara. If they cannot find the required stem cells there either, they will offer the bone marrow transplantation from his mother. But it doesn’t make any sense because out of 40 similar surgeries performed at the Institute of the Pediatric Oncohematology not even one was successful. In other words, the survival rate after this type of surgery is 0%.

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Lesya’s mother says the doctors have confirmed a relapse with a very high content of blasts in the bone marrow. The leukocyte count is also high. The thrombocyte count is only 10. Yesterday, Lesya got a nosebleed. They had to insert a tampon in her nose because the blood wouldn’t coagulate. Now Lesya is at the hospital in Poltava with her mother. Her brother Andrei has also come to Poltava (he lives in Kiev) to help them with looking for the blood donors. Everything has happened so suddenly. There were no symptoms of the relapse at all. She rode a bicycle just a couple of days ago. Now she is in bed hooked up to several medical devices. Lesya is a very strong girl. But she needs our prayers. Please, pray for Lesya and her family.

On May 20, Victoria Skoser started the last block of chemotherapy – Carboplatin and Doxorubicin. Now she has to stay at her ward all the time. Victoria misses her friends, who are staying at the same hospital. They used to play together between the chemotherapy blocks. But Victoria still has something to do: she colors the pictures and listens to the fairy tales. It is the last block of chemotherapy. If everything is all right, Victoria will go to Kiev in two weeks. The doctors will have to remove the last drainage from her abdomen.

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Bogdan Shevchenko still has pleuritis because he almost doesn’t walk. He has heavy breathing and pain in his leg. Bogdan’s mother has to give him painkillers so that he could have some sleep at night. Bogdan has completed the first block of chemotherapy and eight sessions of radiotherapy targeting the metastases spreading in his spine. Now Bogdan is undergoing the second block of chemotherapy with Tavegil. Then there will be a computer tomography, two more blocks of chemotherapy, and a surgery, if nothing goes wrong. Bogdan’s mother is asking for help with buying Tavegil for the chemotherapy, as well as the painkillers. She is also asking for the prayer support.

The parents of Julia Nesterenko are asking to help them buy 3 vials of Bioven Mono, 5%, 50ml (1 vial costs approximately $100) and 3 vials of Grastim (Filgrastim), 0.3mg, 1ml (1 vial costs approximately $130) for their daughter, who is undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Thank you.

Roman Halamendik is at the hospital now waiting for the doctor’s decision about his further treatment. Unfortunately, the results of the blood work Roman had done earlier are discouraging: hemoglobin 8.3, leukocytes 1.4, and thrombocytes 54. Most likely, Roman will need a transfusion of the thrombocyte concentrate. The bad news is that he feels nauseous all the time and cannot sleep at night. The good news is that the doctor decided not to give him another surgery for now. Thanks God! As to the financial situation, Roman’s grandmother still has to repay the debt for the treatment. Nothing has changed. Within the last few days, she got $1,800 in donations, which will go towards the rent and current treatment expenses. Thank you very much.

Alina Sirbiladze has passed away. She had a brainstem tumor. Alina spent a week at the intensive care unit at the specialized children’s hospital in Kiev (Okhmatdet) fighting for her life after she got a cardiac standstill…

Denis Yakovlev is at home right now. He is waiting for the surgery. His condition is still the same: he can’t sit or walk on his own. His vision has not come back either. But his mother doesn’t want to give up. She keeps raising the money for Denis’ surgery. She says thanks to everyone who donated money to her son. Now she is preparing the paperwork she needs to take her son to Russia. As soon as she gets an invoice from the hospital in Russia, we will publish it on the website. But for now we know that the cost of the surgery will be at least $10,000. Alyona, Denis’ mother, has only $375. Please, help Alyona raise the money for her son’s surgery.

We’ve got a letter from Marina, Constantine’s sister. Here it is. “We would like to say thank you for the warmth of your hearts. Honestly speaking, I didn’t think there were so many kind people in the world. It feels so good when I think that someone cares about us, that people won’t abandon us in our distress. Thank you very much. Unfortunately, I don’t know the names of several people who have helped us. That’s why I can’t say thanks to you personally. But we will be praying for all of you. Now some news about Constantine. The doctors succeeded in suppressing the hemorrhage and transferred him from the intensive care unit back to his ward. He was even able to go for a walk. Constantine was supposed to start the chemotherapy last Wednesday. Unfortunately, he got an eye infection, which has to be cured before the chemotherapy starts. Hopefully, he will start the chemotherapy on Monday.” (more…)

Milana Indyk has passed away. She was undergoing treatment at the Singapore National Institute. Milana had an infection in her lungs and spent the last days of her life at the intensive care unit. She just fell asleep to wake up with Jesus Christ.

Arthur touched our hearts with his innocent discretion. He was like a tender flower charming everyone around him with fragile beauty, so rare in this sinful and cruel world. He always smiled, never complained or blamed anyone. He was such a meek boy. Blessed are the meek for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven… that’s where you are now. Arthur really enjoyed going for the confessions and communion. He even told his mother than one day he would like to become a priest… His already pure soul has been purified even more with the sufferings. He drank the cup of sufferings to the lees. Good bye, Arthur. Thank you for the love that you awoke in our hearts. Thank you for strengthening our faith. Thank you for all your redemptive sufferings. You can watch a short video about Arthur here (it’s in Russian)

We have news about Alexandra Monakh from Chernovtsy region. She is undergoing treatment at the National Cancer Institute in Kiev. Several days ago her father came back from Moscow. He took Alexandra’s histologic sections there because three laboratories in Kiev gave three different conclusions about her diagnosis. The doctors in Moscow diagnozed Alexandra with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. The good thing about it is that this type of rhabdomyosarcoma is easier to cure. Let’s hope it’s true. We would like to say thank you to Victoria Gosteva, a volunteer from Moscow, for helping Alexandra with paying for the immunomorphological analysis and for the medical records. Now Alexandra’s father won’t have to go to Moscow again to get those things done.

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Tomorrow (on Saturday) Nastya Olkhovskaya and her mother are leaving for Minsk. The doctors there agreed to admit Nastya to the hospital for examination and treatment. Her mother is really worried about this trip because Nastya is in bad condition. But we have good news as well – Nastya’s father who left the family a while ago will go to Minsk together with his wife and daughter. Thank you, God, for bringing him back to reason! Now about the money. The doctors from Belarus said Nastya’s mother should have at least $5,000 in cash. Now she has about $3,000 thanks to your donations and to the support of her relatives, neighbors, and colleagues. We need to raise $2,000 more so that Nastya could start her treatment.

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I would like to start from sharing the “medical” news about Vadim Greben. Last Monday, he was supposed to be admitted to the children’s hospital in Kherson in order to start a 4-day supporting therapy course with Cytozar. Instead, on Monday Vadim and his mother left for Kiev. He will be getting ready for the bone marrow transplantation from his sister there, who will come to Kiev in a week. But now about the main thing – your mercy. Without it Vadim’s further treatment wouldn’t be possible. Thank you for donating the money Vadim needed for the bone marrow transplantation from a related donor (his sister).

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Alexander Olefirenko passed away on May 21. He had a bone marrow transplantation done in Minsk almost a year ago. In March 2009, Alexander was supposed to finish the treatment. Instead, he was diagnozed with a relapse of the acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He had to start taking the chemotherapy drugs again, which affected his immune system and liver. Then he got a pneumonia that resulted in irreversible changes in his lungs.

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Roman (Rakhmadjan) has an early relapse of leukemia. Five months ago, he completed the intense chemotherapy. He got several complications as soon as he started an antirelapse chemotherapy last week: nosebleed, high blood pressure and blood sugar. Roman is exhausted because he didn’t have a chance to recover after the previous chemotherapy. When his mother, Yulduz, told him everything she knew about leukemia, he lost heart and said, “I don’t want anything. I don’t want any treatment. It’s better to die.” Now the doctors are waiting for a confirmation from Kiev about the necessity of the bone marrow transplantation. Another problem is that Roman and his family are not Ukrainian citizens, which means they have to pay for EVERYTHING. (more…)

A lot of things have happened since January: Nastya Popovich completed the first protocol of the intense chemotherapy. Then she spent two weeks at home having a break before the second protocol. She spent some time with her grandmothers and uncle, who is 11 years old. Nastya also had a chance to play with her favorite toys. During the first protocol of the intense chemotherapy, she got infected with hepatitis B. Now she has to take Zeffix. She has been almost cured from the exania. The next thing will be treatment for the mucosal prolapse. As of today, Nastya has completed the first part of the second protocol. She got a low blood count. She also had to take the course of antibiotics.

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It was too early to rejoice when the doctors in Kiev didn’t confirm the tumor in Natasha Lan’s liver. The doctors in Lugansk had the computer tomography done for the third time. They are confident that the tumor is there and is growing. Most likely, Natasha will need to go to Kiev again for the medical examination. Her mother will call the hospital in Kiev tomorrow to make an appointment. Since there were some problems with sending the bone marrow donor from Belarus to St. Petersburg, they decided to perform the allogenic bone marrow transplantation in Belarus. Besides, the Ministry of Health has already approved an invoice from the hospital in Belarus. If Natasha pays half of the amount (approximately $78,000) in cash, the hospital in Belarus will admit her. They have already got a guarantee letter from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine about paying the second half of the amount. But we still have to raise the rest of money (approximately $55,000).

Today we got a phone call from Bogdan Balashov’s mother. They had to delay their trip to Moscow for about a week. Bogdan has to go there for the medical examination. They couldn’t go because MBG equipment at the hospital in Moscow broke down. Besides, Bogdan’s mother has not raised the money for that trip yet. Please, help this boy.

Our beloved kid, Misha Kotelnikov, celebrated his second birthday on May 16. We came to the hospital to say happy birthday to him. Misha, stay happy and healthy! He had a real birthday party with treats, games, laughter, happiness, soap bubbles, balloons, and a lot of presents. Mika (that’s how he calls himself) learned how to take pictures, to draw and to blow the soap bubbles. His mother, Irene, was crying for joy. She wouldn’t even imagine that Misha’s birthday could be such a fun. We would like to say thank you to our volunteers Anna, Tamara, Lyudmila, and Oksana. You did a great job!

Last Saturday, we got a problem at the oncohematology department of the children’s regional hospital in Kiev: our transporting hospital bed broke down. It was not the best time for it break down because we have a lot of children at the hospital who are starting the chemotherapy. They need help with transportation to the medical and diagnostic procedures because they are unable to walk. Although the doctors have temporarily fixed the transporting bed, it may break down completely at any moment. The doctors are asking for help. The transporting bed costs from $375 to $750, depending on the model and the store. You may contact us for more information.

“We fed the fish and saw a squirrel. It was asking for bread but Katya was holding a piece of bread in her hand very tight and said she would give it only to a swan.” It was a fragment of Alina’s letter. Alina is Katya’s mother. I can almost see her writing this letter, casting glances at her daughter every minute, listening for her breath. She has so many things to do while Katya is sleeping. Katya is all her young parents have. She is their treasure, their beloved baby, their wonder. Having checked on her daughter again, Alina continues writing, “Katya is very courageous. Although she felt sick and vomited a lot during the chemotherapy, she still tried to keep her chin up. She was even able to sit on her bed for five days. It was a heroic deed for her because she is a very active girl. But when I told her that we would need to stay at this hospital for a while, that every such thread (i.e., intravenous line) brings us closer to home, to our cat Zhora, Katya agreed to put up with the treatment for a while.”

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First of all, we would like to say thank you to school # 148 in Dnepropetrovsk called “The Planet of Happiness.” Alexandra Kozyreva left that school last year. Now her former teachers have come to help her. Alexandra’s former homeroom teacher, Shtefirts Sergei, organized a fundraising campaign after watching a program about Alexandra on TV. We would also like to say thank you to the principal Mitikova Natalia, to all the homeroom teachers, all the students and, of course, their parents. Your help is invaluable. Now some news about Alexandra. Last night she left for Kiev with her mother. Unfortunately, they lost her histologic samples taken during the first surgery. Now she will have to undergo all the examinations again before she can be prescribed further treatment.

Several days ago Bogdan Shevchenko got a present – a camera. He fell in love with photographing. It distracts him from the daily medical procedures he has to undergo. It is so important! Bogdan’s mother says the disease and pain her son has to endure refined Bogdan’s sense of beauty. As a result, he can take very nice pictures. Bogdan has one more dream – recovery. He needs your support, whether it’s prayers, good thoughts, the words of encouragement, or money. All of us are able to offer support to the children sick with cancer and their mothers. Please, keep thinking about these children. In some mysterious way, our thoughts and prayers reach their destination and do good for the sick children. We would also like to say thank you to Andrei for the camera he gave to Bogdan.

Two hairdressers – Ksenia and Eugene – came to the specialized children’s hospital in Kiev last Sunday again to do the mothers’ hair. I didn’t have a chance to be there but everybody said it was a success. The hairdressers said that unlike last time, this time they didn’t get tired or emotionally devastated probably because the children and their mothers joked and laughed a lot. Even our nurses asked the hairdressers to have their hair done. Ksenia and Eugene said they would come to the hospital again. Thank you very much! Moments of joy like this brighten up the hospital lives of the children and their mothers.

Not so long ago, Vitaliy Lukashov was getting ready for the autologous bone marrow transplantation, which was supposed to be performed in Kiev. His mother was raising money little by little. Vitaliy achieved the remission after the first relapse and was waiting for the bone marrow transplant. But the doctors had to delay the bone marrow transplantation because there were no cryopaks available in Ukraine (the cryopacks are used for freezing the bone marrow cells). Vitaliy had to go back to Kharkov to wait for the delivery of cryopaks. Meanwhile, he got infected with hepatitis B. While undergoing treatment for hepatitis, Vitaliy got another relapse. He has 40% of blasts in his bone marrow. He has the second relapse of the most severe type of leukemia (myeloblastosis).

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We would like to say thank you to everyone who has been helping Oksana Tarasevich, including Vadim from Kiev, Oksana and her colleagues from Dnepropetrovsk, and many other people whose names we don’t know. Thanks to your donations, Oksana got three packages of Immunate today, 500 units each. On Friday, the doctors took the old tamponage out of her nose for 10 minutes and inserted a new one. Unfortunately, the bleeding has not stopped. They will try to remove the tamponage again on Monday. Oksana will need Immunate for that procedure. We will also buy 2000 units of Immunate with the donations we got earlier. Oksana will use it on Tuesday. Nobody knows how much more Immunate she will need. Please, keep supporting this girl with your prayers and donations.

Pavel Kuzmenko passed away on May 14, 2009. He was 9 years old. Pavel fell sick with leukemia before he turned three years old. Then there were several years of treatment and two relapses. Pavel’s parents did their best to save his life but… He was a very quiet and kind-hearted boy. Pavel liked playing soccer. He was also very patient and diligent. He could spent hours on putting Lego together. Like any other kid, Pavel enjoyed watching the cartoons. He also had a dream that people never fell sick and never died…  (more…)

Vlad Onischenko passed away on May 12, 2009. He was only 4 years old. He died of the retroperitoneum neuroblastoma, which had spread into his bone marrow, right maxillary sinus, and left hip. Vlad was undergoing treatment at the Cancer Institute in Kiev.

Angela Yakovleva spent a week at home recovering after a 3-month chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Today Angela came back to the overcrowded hospital. She will have a tomography done tonight. Tomorrow her mother is leaving for Moscow for the consultation with Prof. Zheludkova. She is also taking the histologic section there because the doctors from Moscow don’t really trust the results of the histologic analysis done in Ukraine. Angela’s mother has to pay cash for all these procedures. We have good news about Angela as well. We have already mentioned earlier that after the surgery Angela’s legs got paralyzed. But now she can feel and even move her legs, which gives us hope that soon she will be able to stand on her feet and walk again. (more…)

Nastya’s condition got worse. The doctors in Donetsk were not sure she would be able to make it through the chemotherapy. That’s why they didn’t start it. It looked as if things were getting better – the amount of blasts was getting smaller by itself. Nastya was receiving only immunoglobulin, no chemotherapy drugs. But several days ago, Nastya got a fever. Her spleen got enlarged. The doctors are trying to convince Nastya’s mother to give her consent for the surgery. They say if the spleen is not removed immediately, Nastya will die within a couple of days. On the other hand, no hospital will take Nastya for the allogenic bone marrow transplantation, if she doesn’t have a spleen. Nastya’s mother is desperate. She doesn’t know what to do. She is losing a child.

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The hospital in Ivano-Frankovsk is in the process of renovating the room for the medical procedures. That’s why they let the majority of the children go home. They left only a couple of girls at the hospital. We came to see them yesterday. Since these girls are very little, we had to do almost everything by ourselves at the arts and crafts class, with their help of course We also spent a lot of time just chatting with the girls and playing with them. Before we left, we gave them the toys donated by Anna. Looking at the smiles on the girls’ faces, we realized that our visit was a success.

Lesya Piskalenko fell sick again. She caught a flue and started coughing. Lesya’s mother took her to the hospital to have the blood work done. The results of the blood test were shocking: Lesya got 96,000 leukocytes in her blood (the normal range is 4,000 – 9,000). Up until that day, Lesya had regular blood tests done. Everything was all right. We hoped Lesya had recovered completely. But we were wrong… Now Lesya’s parents are looking for a hospital that would agree to take Lesya for treatment. First of all, she needs to have the bone marrow puncture done, which will show whether Lesya has a relapse or not. The problem is that Lesya’s parents refused traditional medicine some time ago. That’s why the doctors both in Poltava and in Kiev don’t want to take her for treatment.

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On May 15, Alexander Scherbak had an autologous bone marrow transplantation done in Kiev. It took about 40 minutes for the doctors to introduce Alexander’s bone marrow cells that had been collected earlier (via the subclavian catheter). Before this procedure, Alexander had a high-dose chemotherapy done, which eliminated whatever was left of his bone marrow. Now we can only hope that his bone marrow cells will start growing and producing more cells. Alexander doesn’t feel well now. He keeps vomiting. The doctors give him the injections of Dimedrol to make him sleep. He sinks into oblivion but as soon as he wakes up he starts vomiting again.

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Nikolai Fomenko was supposed to arrive in Kiev today. But he got behind the scheduled chemotherapy treatment because he fell sick with bronchitis. His condition got worse last week because he started the next block of chemotherapy. He got high alanine-aminotransferase. The doctors prescribed him Geptral, Berlitione, Ursosan, and Hepatophyte. Nikolai also got a very low blood count (thrombocytes, leukocytes, and hemoglobin) after the block of Cytozar. Now he is taking the antibiotics Augmentin. Today he is having a one-day block of Cytozar. Tomorrow, he is leaving for Kiev. Nikolai’s mother has raised about $7,500 thanks to your donations as well as her relatives’ help. But it’s not enough. Nikolai needs about $12,500 for the bone marrow transplantation, which includes blood transfusions, food, etc.

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Oleg Grinevich had a surgery done. It was very successful. He didn’t need either an endoprosthesis or a bone transplant from his leg. The doctors found unaffected tissues in his arm and were able to save part of his bone. Oleg got $125 in donations. We spent it on buying the medications and supplies he needed for the surgery. Now Oleg is at home. I talked to him shortly after they transferred him from the intensive care unit to the ward. Although he was very weak, he still smiled so sincerely that I had no doubt he would recover very soon. I was right: Oleg was discharged from the hospital in less than a week. But the treatment is not over yet. On Tuesday, Oleg will come back to the hospital for the chemotherapy. He will need Doxorubicin (50mg, 3 packages, $40 each) and Ondansentron (8mg, 3 packages, $5 each). Altogether, he needs $135. He has only $57 on his account.

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Yana Mukovozova’s mother told us that her daughter likes watching cartoons very much. Every now and then, she stands in front of the TV-set, as if she has been spellbound, and watches the adventures of Winnie the Pooh and his friends. Sometimes, she even tries to hug the TV-set. That’s how much she loves it. It’s not an easy thing to stay at the hospital for a very long time, especially for the children. A couple of days ago, one kind-hearted person gave a present to Yana – a portable DVD-player and a special backpack for it. Now Yana can watch cartoons at the hospital while receiving the chemotherapy drugs and on a bus, while going back home.

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I’ve got a phone call from Daniel Tsukanov’s mother. She shared the recent news about her son with me. Daniel had to go back to the hospital in Poltava because his condition got worse (he got pain in his legs). His blood count got worse as well: the norm for cytosis is 25%, Daniel has 75%. His mother is asking for help. She spent all her savings within a week of treatment. On top of that, her husband left her. He doesn’t help Daniel at all. Please, support Daniel financially. He needs money for treatment.

I finally met Nikolai – a skinny 11-year-old boy wearing a medical mask and walking in the park in front of the hospital. I was so happy to meet him! Marina, his mother, is 55 years old. She doesn’t try to hide her age. Her husband, Nikolai’s father, died of cancer in October 2008. All she has in this life is Nikolai and her elder brother. Marina is a script editor. She works for the newspaper Telenedelya. She has two degrees. Although I had a chance to talk to her only briefly three years ago, I couldn’t forget her. Tomorrow, about 1.30 p.m., Nikolai and Marina are leaving for Israel. Nikolai will be undergoing treatment over there.

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Irene Pashkova passed away on May 11. She completed a very long treatment, achieved the remission, got over the news about the relapse. When she was admitted to the hospital with the relapse, she refused further treatment, primarily because of the cost involved. Although the doctors and her parents tried to convince Irene not to do that, she didn’t want to become a financial burden on her family, which already had her paralized aunt to look after. Irene lived at home for more than half a year. Her mother said she felt quite well. She enjoyed every moment of her life. Several days ago, Irene got the symptoms of the cold. On May 11, in the morning, she didn’t want to get out of bed. Instead, she asked her mother to bring a cup of tea to bed. When her mother came back to the bedroom with a cup of tea in her hand, she had time only to say good-bye to her daughter. Everything happened very suddenly… Irene was the only child of her parents.

The hematology department of the regional children’s clinical hospital in Lvov is in emergency. They ran out of the vital medications, such as Tienam and Bioven Mono. They mailed a letter to the charity fund Kryl’ya Nadezhdy (The Wings of Hope) asking for their assistance in purchasing 100 vials (500mg) of Tienam and 50 vials (5g) of Bioven Mono. One vial of Tienam costs about $20. One vial of Bioven Mono costs about $80. Altogether, it works out to $6000, without taking into account the ongoing price increase. The hospital should have a supply of these medications at all times. When these medications are prescribed, they have to be administered to the children immediately. Please, help the hospital, or to be more exact its little patients.

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We have never had so many children at our hospital at the same time. The doctors have to place 3-4 kids in one ward (each of them stays with at least one parent at the same ward), although there should be no more than 2 children in one ward. The mothers either have to share the beds with their children or have to sleep on the floor. But the main problem is that the hospital doesn’t have any medications to treat those children. They urgently need: (more…)

Oksana Tarasevich was admitted to the children’s hospital in Dnepropetrovsk with nasal and gingival hemorrhage. She has been suffering from the severe form of Willebrand disease all her life. This disease is characterized by the lack of certain substances in the blood, which are required for the clotting. She needs to take the medication called Immunate, which contains those substances. Oksana needs to receive 2000 units of Immunate per month. Otherwise, she starts having hemorrhages, which are very difficult to stop. The government is supposed to give Immunate to Oksana for free. Unfortunately, it doesn’t give anything to her.

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We would like to say thank you to everyone who responded to our earlier request for help for Andrei Kosyachenko. He got $250 in donations. This money will be spent on the medications Andrei needs for the oncoming surgery. As of today, Andrei has completed 6 blocks of pre-surgical chemotherapy. The surgery for removal of the upper arm bone and implantation of the endoprosthesis is scheduled for the end of May. The company manufacturing the endoprostheses will be able to make it only after 100% prepayment. It takes two weeks to manufacture it. Andrei needs your help. Please, help him raise the money for the endoprosthesis, which costs $720.

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After MBG that was done in March, the doctors decided to postpone a surgery they had to give to Bogdan Balashov. Instead, Bogdan was prescribed several more blocks of chemotherapy. On May 18, he has to go to Moscow again for the repeated examination. If it doesn’t show any living cancer cells, the doctors will be able to give him a surgery. Bogdan’s parents have to pay $725 for this trip, including $300 for MBG, $125 for accommodations (they will have to stay in Moscow overnight because the results of MBG will be ready only the next day after the procedure), and $300 for the tickets. Bogdan’s parents have $225 but they still need to raise $500. Please, help them. We would also like to ask you to inform us about your donations because as soon as we raise $500, we will publish the news about it so that to let our visitors know that Bogdan doesn’t need help any more.

Victoria Skoser had a surgery done a month ago. She got a liver transplant from her mother. Victoria was discharged from the hospital on April 30. She didn’t see her younger brother Artyom for two months. That’s why during her short stay at home she tried to spend as much time with Artyom as possible. However, they did have to wave goodbye to each other because Victoria had to go back to the hospital for the chemotherapy. Her blood count is good. Today Victoria received Cisplatin (a chemotherapy drug). Victoria is in good mood. She plays, paints, and watches the cartoons. In two weeks, Victoria will start the last block of chemotherapy (Doxorubicine and Carboplatin). The charity fund Viden paid for these medications. THANK YOU!

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Roman Zagavura continues his treatment in Poltava. He got a low blood count. That’s why he needs both blood donors and a high diet. We would like to say thank you to everyone who has been supporting this child financially. Of all the children staying at our hospital, Roman needs support probably the most. Nastya Stepanova comes back to the hospital tomorrow for the third chemotherapy. A couple of days ago she had a puncture done, which showed bad results. That’s why the doctors decided to interrupt Nastya’s home “vacation” and made her come to the hospital ahead of time.

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Nikita Polshin has been undergoing treatment for hydrocephaly since 2006. The treatment was ineffective. Nikita’s condition was getting worse and worse and the doctors sent him home to die. But his parents didn’t give up. They took Nikita to the clinic in Poland, where he had a surgery done. They inserted a drainage in his brain. The surgery was successful. All Nikita needs now is proper rehabilitation. He started the course of rehabilitation at Kozyakin’s clinic. The results of the rehabilitation were amazing.

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Artyom Baistryuchenko has passed away. He left while waiting for the treatment to be resumed. They will bury him tomorrow. It is so hard to comprehend news like that, especially because we know that we failed to help him. We are not blaming anybody. We are just asking you: please, hurry up to do good. Today Artyom’s mother was weeping while saying thanks to everyone who tried to save her son’s life and was begging us to help another child with the same disease as Artyom had. Artyom was her late and only child. He had a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Daniel Zolotaryov passed away last night. He was a new child on our website. We published his personal page just a couple of days ago, when he was still in coma…

I have nothing bad to say about Vadim’s family. He has good parents, his sister will become a donor for Vadim. During his stay at the hospital, Vadim’s relatives managed to raise the money for his treatment (almost $10,000) without asking anybody else for help. Elena Greben, Vadim’s mother, said they didn’t receive any donations whatsoever after publishing their request for help on our website. Our volunteer Mikhail, who had been supporting this family in Kiev, confirmed that he didn’t get any donations for this family. On May 15, Vadim is supposed to go back to the specialized children’s hospital in Kiev.

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This story started about four years ago, when we got a new patient at our hospital – Alina. She stayed at the hospital with her mother Alyona. Alyona was a single mother. Alina was a 4-year-old funny and very cute girl. To say that they were poor is to say nothing. They didn’t have even the basic items they needed for their daily life at the hospital. They had neither spring nor winter clothes. Alina was admitted to the hospital in autumn, when it was still warm. But in November, when it got cold, Alina had to terminate the treatment because her mother couldn’t take her to the hospital for the scheduled chemotherapy since Alina had nothing to wear.

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We had a full house on Saturday again. Nobody “wanted” to go home for the long weekend. I am joking, of course. Everybody wants to go home but someone is hooked up the IV, someone has a low blood count, someone has no place to go in Kiev. But that’s all right. We didn’t waste our time at the hospital. When I came to the hospital, the volunteers from the church were already there. They usually come to the hospital on Fridays and Sundays but this time they came on Saturday. That’s why the children has been busy since early morning making wooden planes, dragon-flies, merry-go-rounds, grasshoppers, and dear.

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Today the surprise was waiting for me at the hospital. Nazar Kovalchuk and his friends shot a cartoon. The plot and the characters of this cartoon were created by the children staying at the cancer hospital. They also did the voice-over recording. It was a multistage project. During the first stage the children made the characters out of the playdough – a hedgehog, a giraffe, a crocodile, a turtle, a dog, a tiger, etc. Nobody knew what the cartoon would be about. They just made whatever they felt like making. Then the children created the plot about the hedgehog looking for a mushroom he needed for the winter.

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Andrei Mezheyevskiy needs an allogenic bone marrow transplantation. His mother, who is a widow, is trying her best to raise the money for it. It is very difficult for her to do it in Kiev, where she is a stranger, where she doesn’t have any friends or relatives, where she can ask only people like you and me for help. All she was able to raise was $7,500. But she has to spend that money little by little. First, she had to take Andrei to St. Petersburg for the HLA-matching. Now she has to take Andrei to St. Petersburg again for the additional examination. She will have to pay not only for the examination, but also for the transportation, accommodations, and food. Besides, she has to buy such things as bandages, adhesive tapes, therapy creams, etc. She tries to save every penny.

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A couple of days ago one amazing Person, who asked us not to mention his name, donated $50,000 to Masha Zotova. Then another amazing Person, Gennadiy Netyuhailo, Olga’s father, donated the money ($8,053 + 1,030 EURO) to Masha. This money was raised by his colleagues from KyivStar for the treatment of his own daughter.

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Slava Voroshilov completed the sixth block of chemotherapy two days ago. When they were flushing the port, Slava got fever. They couldn’t subdue it for two days. His hemoglobin count is low, which means he will need to receive the blood transfusion within the next couple of days. Although Slava has completed the sixth block, he is still at the hospital. The doctors didn’t let him go home because of the very low blood count. His hemoglobin count is 70-80 (healthy children have 140). Today he received the thrombocyte concentrate because yesterday his thrombocyte count was only 17. He won’t be able to start the chemotherapy, unless his thrombocyte count is at least 80.

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Alexei Lavrinenko has completed the chemotherapy and started the radiotherapy. His mother says thank you to those people who helped them with buying the medications as well to the blood donors. (more…)

Sometimes, when I come to the hospital and walk down the hallway, I see empty rooms. It always makes me happy: if the rooms are empty, the children are at home; if the children are at home, they are doing good. When I came to the hospital this time, I met only a couple of kids because the rest of them were at home. Rostislav Torgovenkov started a 5-day chemotherapy on Tuesday. He got some hair and a “toothy” smile on his face – his permanent teeth are growing. Upon completion of this chemotherapy, Rostislav will have to go to Kiev for the surgery and further treatment. Every time Rostislav gets financial help, his mother asks me to say thank you to those people who helped them. This time she says thank you to Rostislav’s classmates and his teacher, to the fitness club on Pobeda Str., to Alexander, Angela, and all the rest of people helping this family anonimously. (more…)

Today is Mark’s birthday. He is 16 years old now. We would like to wish him the soonest recovery and return to the normal life. Mark Shipulya is staying at the hospital in Dnepropetrovsk. He is in stable condition. Multi-field clinic Bogenhausen in Munich agreed to admit Mark for examination and treatment as well as for the surgery. They recommend an extensive removal of the tumor accompanied by the local chemotherapy with Gliadel. Gliadel is an implant used for the local administration of the chemical agent into the affected area.

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It looks like we have the epidemics. I don’t know what else it could be. Even the doctors agree with me and say that they have never seen anything like that. Now I start understanding what they meant by saying that the consequences of the explosion at Chernobyl nuclear power plant would become obvious only in the next generation. The children undergoing treatment at Ukrainian cancer hospitals is our next generation, born 23 years after the explosion. Almost all the children undergoing treatment at the specialized children’s hospital Okhmatdet in Kiev need an allogenic bone marrow transplant.

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Bogdan Shevchenko is staying at the Cancer Institute in Kiev together with his mother. He is undergoing the pre-surgical chemotherapy. He has completed one out of two blocks. As soon as he completes the second block, they will give him a surgery. The drug that he is taking now is very toxic. It caused a number of complications, including intestinal and stomach problems. As a result, Bogdan’s mother has to spend more money on the medications. Bogdan also got liquid in his pleural. They have to tap it. The hospital doesn’t supply even such basic things as solutions and drop counters. Bogdan’s mother has to buy them with her own money.

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International Charity Fund Dar Nadiyi (The Gift of Hope) together with the radio station JamFM and club network Docker’s organized a number of fundraising club rock concerts Kraschi Lyudy (The Best People) with participation of the famous and not-so-famous Ukrainian rock groups. The goal of this project is to raise money for the needs of the children’s oncohematology department of the Regional Cancer Hospital in Kiev and to increase the public awareness about the blood donors and charity in Ukraine. The street concerts are scheduled for May 23, 24, 30, and 31. They will be held on Kreschatik in Kiev.

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