Our fund is currently helping following patients under Bone Marrow Transplants Program:
- Please visit What is Bone Marrow Transplant to learn more about term and procedures.
- Click here to learn about difficulties faced by Russian patients who need bone marrow transplants.
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Stas Pryakhin is 27 years old. He is a student at St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts, majoring in film and photography. In August 2009, Stas was hospitalized due to severe pain in his bones. The tests revealed the acute lymphoblastic leukemia with Philadelphia chromosome breakage. Stas had barely begun treatment, when sudden development of meningitis sent him to intensive care unit. The doctors were pessimistic about his chances, but Stas survived. He got out of intensive care and resumed therapy, which was interrupted two more times due to blood infections. In January 2010, Stas was discharged for a short time to take college tests, and soon afterwards he returned to the hospital for high-dosage chemotherapy. When the therapy is completed, Stas is recommended the bone marrow transplantation. The cost of procedure is 15,000 euros and it is scheduled for July - August 2010. Please help us in raising money for Stas!
- Please view the video posted by Stas’ friends on YouTube.
- Spread the word about Stas by forwarding a flyer.
May 20, 2010: Stas developed serious complications after his last course of chemotherapy: low blood counts, nose bleeding and lesions. Stas is required to take five courses of chemotherapy, after which he will have transplantation.
June 7, 2010: Stas is about to continue chemotherapy. Thank-you to Irina Remidovskaya from Lipetsk and Nadezhda Vasilyevna Schetkina who helped with the discharge and pickup of medication for Stas.
July 28, 2010: Stas is completing the final course of chemotherapy, suffering from mucositis. The supporting therapy is planned after the chemotherapy. The transplantation is moved to October.
August 14, 2010: Stas is undergoing therapy at the transplantation department. In spite of sepsis for which he is taking antibiotics, Stas feels and eats well, and communicates with his friends.
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Vlad Kurusi from Ukraine is 9 years old. He was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, condition when bone marrow does not produce sufficient blood cells. For the past 9 months, Vlad has been relying on donated blood, receiving infusions every week. He underwent series of alternative therapy, including courses of immunoglobulin and immunosuppressive. Due to the regular blood infusions, Vlad has been taking Desferal to remove excess iron and Granocyte to stimulate hematogenesis. The bone marrow transplantation remains recommended as Vlad’s parents will not be able to keep up with expensive drugs for a long period of time.
Vlad is a very creative boy. He spends hours drawing comics, creating mazes and towns, and writing stories. Some of his drawings and stories were published in Russian and Ukrainian magazines for kids. Please give this talented boy a chance to live!
May 19, 2010: Vlad had puncture on May 16th. Although his condition has not changed dramatically (Vlad is still dependent on blood injections and needs a donor once a week), the doctors detected a small amount of growing young cells. It is very important to stimulate growth of these cells now, both leukocytes and erythrocytes, so Vlad will continue taking Eprex and Granocyte to stimulate hematogenesis.
June 14, 2010: Vlad continues treatment with Sandimmun Neoral. After injections of trombocite concentrate, Vlad was temporarily discharged from the hospital for his 10th birthday - Happy Birthday Vlad!
July 16, 2010: The dosage of Sandimmun Neoral was increased to keep up with Vlad’s body growth. The doctors continue monitoring of blood counts. Results of immunosuppressive therapy will be assessed in August.
August 31, 2010: Unfortunately, Vlad ran into some serious complications, e.g. citomegalovirus infection which urgently required immunoglobulin injection. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers and clinic personnel, the immunoglobulin was found.
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Lyudmila Krasikova is 53 years old. She lives with her daughter. In spring 2009, she suddenly started feeling unwell and was soon diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, which can only be cured with a bone marrow transplant. Since Lyudmila’s sister did not match as a donor, she needed transplant from an unrelated donor. Ninety-six potential donors were found in a registry in Germany, but until a payment is made, the search cannot be started. The earlier a donor is found, the better chances Lyudmila will have. Please help Lyudmila!
March 26, 2010: Lyudmila is at home and she feels rather well. The donor search is practically over and we now need to raise money urgently to pay off Lyudmila’s debt to the registry and perform transplantation on schedule.
May 19, 2010: Lyudmila underwent transplantation today. She feels rather well. She still needs help to pay off her debt to the bone marrow donor registry.
June 10, 2010: Lyudmilla is still in the hospital in a satisfactory condition; she receives therapy. After some time, she will be allowed to live at home and come to the clinic for examination.
August 2, 2010: Lyudmila is at home and feels satisfactory. Twice a week, she gives blood for analysis and sees the doctor. Lyudmila is still taking Vfend. Her daughter is saying thank-you to all supporters.
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Kirill Belov is 27, he is married and has a daughter. The leukemia had struck Kirill unexpectedly: always a strong healthy person, he has suddenly lost consciousness at work. Kirill is now being treated at the Botkin Hospital in Moscow, awaiting for the bone marrow transplant. Based on a preliminary search, Kirill has a good donor match. He is hopeful to receive the transplant soon. The preliminary costs are in 17,000-20,000 Euro range.
Please help Kirill to raise the money for the transplant and treatment.
February 1, 2010: Based on preliminary search results, Kirill has many potential donors. We are sincerely grateful to DKMS registry for giving Kirill a discount on the donor search. We will receive the bill in a few days.
May 19, 2010: Kirill’s relatives raised the necessary amount for the donor search.
July 5, 2010: The donor search for Kirill Belov was paid in full by an anonymous supporter. We are enormously grateful to him for help!
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Anya Seryukova came to St. Petersburg from Siberia. She is only seven, yet already went through years of leukemia treatment. Anya’s little brother Fedor is a 100% matching donor for her, but the transplantation requires a set of equipment that costs almost $10,000. Let’s help Anya overcome leukemia!
August 23, 2009: Anya suffers from skin GVHD (graft-versus-host disease), and was prescribed hormonal therapy and Vfend (to prevent recurrence of aspergillosis during hormonal therapy). Anya needs 400 mg of Vfend daily. The infusion of NK-cells was postponed for some time.
October 3, 2009: Anya cannot be completely taken off hormones. She receives the therapy in small doses, because cancellation of it increases GVHD.
November 30, 2009: Company “Quickpay” joined fundraising campaign for Anya. As part of Kind Payments program, they already raised 182,000 rubles for Anya via payment terminals. The money was used to buy Vfend for Anya. Anya and her mom will come to St. Petersburg for planned testing next week. We are enormously grateful to all their supporters!
December 24, 2009: Anya has been discharged and is going home until the end of January when the photopheresis machine is to start working again. Anya and her mother are saying thank you to all of you for your support and wishing you all a happy new year! Anya is feeling fine.
March 14, 2010: Anya completed all tests. She is in complete remission in regards to her primary diagnosis. Anya and mom were again preparing to go home, but the night before their flight Anya had severe seizures. She is now at the clinic under the doctors’ watch.
March 23, 2010: Anya’s condition stabilized and she was transferred out of intensive care unit. The test results, unfortunately, show that she developed CNS involvement of leukemia that caused seizures. Anya is now undergoing a course of chemotherapy (injection of Cytosar in cerebrospinal fluid), and may also need an expensive medication, DepoCyt.
April 3, 2010: Anya completed anti-relapse therapy. The testing of spinal fluid did not show any blasts. Further treatment is under discussion.
May 19, 2010: Anya achieved remission. She is now stable and was allowed to go home for two months.
June 4, 2010: Anya is at home and feels well. She is supervised by a hematologist and still needs to take Vfend.
