Misha is a 4-year-old from Saratov, Russia. He is an only child, his parents’ pride and joy. When he was 3 years old, in fall of 2020, he started daycare and was often sick over the winter. When spring came, his parents hoped he would finally be able to get over all the colds. They were awaiting his blood test results, when they received a worrying call from their clinic. Misha’s blood test results showed very high leukocyte count. For his parents, it was hard to believe that a visibly healthy child who had no symptoms, could be seriously ill.
Misha urgently had additional tests. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, very high risk. This type of leukemia requires bone marrow transplant as treatment because of high risk of relapse. But first, Misha needed 4 blocks of high-dose chemotherapy. He tolerated treatment well – both physically and emotionally. Misha smiled for his mom even as he lost his hair.
The next step had to be bone marrow transplant. Neither of Misha’s parents could donate their stem cells, and it was decided to initiate the search for an unrelated donor. The search takes time, and meanwhile Misha was sent home for maintenance chemotherapy. In September 2021 Misha had a cycle of chemo at the hospital and soon after was diagnosed with Covid-19 infection. On October 25th Misha was diagnosed with a very early relapse of leukemia. He began anti-relapse chemo, but his doctors were pessimistic about his chances to achieve remission.
At that point, Misha’s parents decided to take him to Israel where he can access a wider range of medicines for leukemia and improve his survival chances. Misha’s family will have to pay out of pocket for his treatment, and have began raising funds. Our project provided Misha with a $1000 grant. We are very grateful to you for supporting kids like Misha and letting them gain access to better care.
Thank you once again and hope you have a wonderful new year!
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