Future policeman needs a surgery

Bohdan dreams of becoming a policeman: to bring order, to stop violators. However, looking at his right arm and leg the boy feels embarrassed: "But how I will catch criminals..." Bohdan has a tumor of the spinal cord. The right side of his body stopped growing. He needs an urgent surgery but the family with many children doesn’t have enough money to buy prescribed medicines. While Bohdanchyk’s mom is at the hospital with her son, his dad takes care of eleven (!) kids at home.

Bohdan was born together with his brother. The boys grew to like all kids. Bohdan was very active but then the problems with his arm began, later with the leg. The parents went to many specialists. There were exercise therapy, massages, and rehabilitation programs. His condition improved but then again deteriorated.

In September even his school teacher noticed a deterioration of the situation. The parents referred to the Institute of Orthopedics, then to the Okhmatdyt Hospital. The doctor recommended an MRI exam after which a huge tumor of the spinal cord was detected. The boy needs a surgery. More than three years were wasted while false diagnoses were treated. Bohdan’s family asks kind-hearted people for a helping hand.

Name: Bohdan Ostapenko, 18.02.2010

City: Bila Tserkva

Diagnosis: a tumor of the spinal cord