Do not let cancer steal our Nastia

Nastya Sahno got ill with acute myeloid leukemia in February 2014, she endured high-dose chemotherapy, autologous transplantation of bone marrow, relapse and new chemotherapy cycle. Now Nastya needs bone marrow transplantation from non-relative donor. Such operations are not conducted in Ukraine. Italian clinic in Genoa is waiting for Nastya, her blood was sent for typing. For the treatment in Italian clinic in Genoa we need to gather 120 thousand euros. Nastya’s parents have already gathered 5 thousand euros and paid for Nastya’s blood typing.

Nastya is a real fighter. She fearlessly bears all the manipulations – puncture without anesthesia, injections, chemotherapy and all the aftereffects. For instance, during high-dose chemotherapy Nastya was given “Alkeran” medication. While taking it, Nastya had to eat ice, chipped in blender, for the whole hour. With spoon. With no interruption. So that the medicine won’t burn the girl’s mouth and gullet mucosa. Children often can't stand this procedure, as they start freezing. However, Nastya calmly endured the procedure and ate ice.

Overall, she cried during her illness only once – in spring of this year. It happed when her doctor showed her the check analysis in a hospital lobby and said that there are 12% blasts in her blood and that the illness came back again. That medical treatment, transplantation and long rehabilitation period didn’t help. That she has to leave at home her new roller-blades she was dreaming of for so long and was given as a present on New Year, that everything starts over and no one knows how everything will end. Nastya broke into tears. She was crying for all day and no one was able to calm her down. But the next day Nastya pulled herself together and started a new battle for her life.

Nastya has no classmates. There were only three children in her classroom and after the girl got ill, her school was closed for good. All her friends are now at the hospital, but Nastya sees them not so often as almost all the time she has to spend in sterile hospital ward.

Natya is a real girl. During the medical treatment, she behaves worthily, fearlessly, reasonably and calmly, but there’s a single weakness of her – her hair. Before her illness, the girl had waist-long thick hair. Now there’s none. At all. That’s why Nastya is always wearing a headscarf and doesn’t take it off even at night. Her mom can’t take it off even when the daughter is asleep. Even doctors and nurses didn’t see Nastya without a headscarf and her mom has to take her picture for her foreign passport by stealth. Nastya stays a real girl until the end. A very strong girl.

But even the strongest girls need help. Neither Nastya, nor her parents are not able to gather 120 thousand euros for her treatment. This sum is enormous for people from Rozhdestvenskoye village in Cherkassy region. This sum is too big for every one of us. But together we can help.

Name: Anastasia P. Sakhno, 19/12/2004

Location: Cherkasy region

Diagnosis: acute myeloid leukemia, M2-FAB