Our Bone Marrow Transplants Program primarily helps patients awaiting transplants in St. Petersburg, Russia. We work together with our partner, AdVita fund, to raise money for search for the donors and harvesting of bone marrow for transplants.
- What is Bone Marrow Transplant?
- Difficulties faced by Russian patients who need bone marrow transplants.
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15-year-old Masha Rudenko is from a small town Svetlovodsk in Ukraine. Masha was recently diagnosed with myelodisplastic syndrome, the only cure for which is bone marrow transplantation. Masha has a sister who will be her donor, but she needs to raise $168,000 to undergo transplantation in Israel, as this bone marrow transplants from donors are not done in Ukraine. Please help Masha get a chance to live!
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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 with 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.
September 30, 2010: As of the end of September, the total amount of funds transferred to Stephan Morsch registry for the donor search for Stas was 5,000 euros and $1,600. Unfortunately, the matching donor for Stas has yet to be found.
October 25, 2010: Donor for Stas was found. Transplantation is scheduled for November.
November 10, 2010: Due to complications related to donor, transplantation was postponed to December.
February 5, 2011: Stas is waiting for news from the Bone Marrow Registry. The first donor that was found earlier was dismissed due to donor’s health issues, the second possible donor is not a perfect match for Stas. Since the lumber puncture test result in December was relatively good, it was decided to continue the search for a better matching donor. A tentative date of transplantation - March 2011. Stas passed his winter exams, he continues taking his medications and feels good.
April 19, 2011: Based on puncture results, Stas does not have minimal residual disease, so it was decided to continue search for a better matching donor rather than use the one that was located but matches only partially. Stas will continue with regular examinations. If minimal residual disease begins to increase, he will undergo transplantation from the donor already located.
