The leg has its price

Dima – only and long-awaited child in the family. He was born from a great love, which is still ongoing and adds care and respect in relationships. That's just the life force to overcome obstacles. Moreover, in their house came the war...

In May 2011, the child felt pain in his knee while touching/pressing. Two weeks later it started to hurt while walking up the stairs. We contacted the surgeon because of the pain and slight swelling in his knee. Got the ultrasound and an X-ray done and the doctor assumed it might have been a strain of soft tissues. The treatment provided – ointment, painkillers – gave some relief and Dima went to the seaside on vacation.

Within 5 days there appeared some hardening and it really hurt to walk. We saw doctors thereabout. This time an X-ray showed the presence of a tumor. Through good contacts, we got to the Bone Cancer department at the Regional Traumatology Hospital where we got the biopsy done and the final diagnosis defined. After embolization, they provided an endoprosthesis and the child traveled to the Childhood Cancer Department in Kyiv.

He endured a special aggressive treatment and received a domestically produced endoprosthesis which did not allow for bending a leg and the leg was 8 mm shorter that the other one. In 2014 in Kharkiv at Professor Sytenko Institute of Backbone and Joint Pathology, they implanted a German “growing” endoprosthesis which allowed to extend his leg.

At the moment the young man needs a change of an endoprosthesis “growing” part for a permanent module; otherwise, all efforts might turn out to be in vain – we are all about saving his leg. While having cancer in the military conflict zone, nobody seems to assist in your problem which is not related to military actions. Thus, we have to decide whether we want to help a Ukrainian cancer patient or if we deny.

Name: Sarafeniuk Dmytro, 21.10.1994

City: Donetsk

Dingos: chondrosarcoma n/3 of left femur, resection of n/2 of the left hip