Help Cancer Patients Find Bone Marrow Donors!

Our latest support recipient is Elena, a widow from Volgograd.  She was initially diagnosed with acute myelomonoblastic leukemia in 2011.  Her son Pavel was 7 years old then, and he spent a year living with his 77-year old grandmother while his mom was hospitalized.  Eventually, Elena recovered and returned home.  Things went back to normal:  Elena worked as a pharmacist, while her son was doing well in school.  Every summer they went to vacation at Black sea resorts. 

Unexpectedly, in April 2018 Elena had a relapse of her disease.  She had to start chemotherapy again, and this time she also needed bone marrow transplant from a donor.  There were no matching donors in Russian registries, but potential donors were found abroad.  The cost of the search is 18,000 euros, plus additional charges to deliver transplant by courier.  This is Elena's only chance to beat her disease and see her son grow up.  Pavel is currently 14, and he cannot imagine his world without his mom.   His grandmother is very old and frail now, and she no longer leaves her house. 

Thanks to your help, we were able to pay off Elena's debt to the donor registry in Germany.  Three weeks ago she underwent stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor and she is now recovering.  She feels rather well overall, but is not yet allowed to get up due to a blood clot that formed in her vein and requires therapy with blood thinners.  Thanks again for supporting patients like Elena who have few people to turn to for help.    We are wishing her the speediest recovery!

We have great news to report:  thanks to your generosity during the holiday season, we were able to transfer $30,000 to the registry in Germany and use these funds to help pay off debts of 5 blood cancer patients!  What a great way to start a year for these patients!  Your financial support is much appreciated and will help the patients breathe a bit easier as they continue on their path to recovery. 

Here is a couple of stories of the patients who have received your support this time: 

Anastasia is from a small town in Siberia.  She is an elementary and English teacher who loves her job and her students.  In 2009 Anastasia had a daughter. All was going great.  But in 2014 she got sick with a regular cold, it seemed.  However, her blood test was abnormal and then a biopsy showed that she had issues with her bone marrow, and so all of a sudden Anastasia was diagnosed with leukemia.  It was a difficult time, as she not only had to battle cancer, but also deal with a dissolution of her marriage.  Anastasia achieved remission and stayed on maintenance chemo for two years.  Things were getting back to normal.  She even met someone and got married again.  But then leukemia returned in January 2018 and the treatment had to be restarted.  This time Anastasia has support of her husband, and their two children.  She is in remission, but for the remission to be sustained, she needed bone marrow transplant from a donor.   On Valentine's Day, she received transplant from a foreign donor and is now recovering. 

Ekaterina is from St. Petersburg.  She is a mom of two little boys: her oldest in the 2nd grade, and the youngest just a year old.  In May 2018 Katya was diagnosed with myelomonoblastic leukemia.  She is very artistic and a designer by profession.  She loved her interior designer job, and enjoyed traveling, yoga and caring for the boys.  All of it changed in last April when Katya started feeling fatigued, became nauseous and lightheaded. By now she completed several rounds of chemotherapy, but bone marrow transplant is a necessity in her situation.  Katya's brother did not match her as a donor, and the family had to search for the donor abroad.  While they were able to raise about a third of the required amount, they needed support of others to pay off the registry bill.  In December Katya received a transplant from donor.  She is still undergoing recovery and fighting off infections that developed due to her low immunity. 

We are wishing Anastasia and Ekaterina speediest recovery!  Thank you for your support of these courageous young women and others like them!