Relapse... Save Kira from leukemia!

"We have an ordinary family, a second child is our princes. As we wanted: the boy and the girl. Diet, doctor’s prescriptions, tests. Fast childbirth in time, breastfeeding. It was a lovely child; there were no problems with her during first six months. And then everything turned upside down... I look at Kira’s photos, there are walks, and ponytails, and brother, and christenings, and toys, and smiles... Then the onset of the disease – the first lymph node, then the bandages on the rest lanced lymph nodes, the first hospitalization, catheters, bruises because of low platelets, anesthesia, drips, chemotherapy, pain, resuscitation...

I understand that I did not know what life is and how it should be valued until I got to the children’s oncological hematology department. The first days were terrible... It was horrible to leave the ward and see bald-headed children with white skin and bruises under the eyes, children with terrible diagnoses, and it was even more frightening to think that your child has blood cancer – juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, the only method of treatment of which is bone-marrow transplantation. Then we were very lucky – the Ministry of Health had paid the transplantation at the University Hospital in Verona.

And on September 1, 2017, Kira was made bone-marrow transplantation. After transplantation, everything went more or less stable, I was happy with the successes of the child and hoped that the operation was successful, and the bone marrow worked. It was until November 22, when, like a bolt from the blue, it was sounded: “Relapse. Kira needs repeated bone-marrow transplantation; blasts are detected: 18%". This means that everything is needed to be started from the beginning... A huge amount of 80,000 euros is needed for a second bone-marrow transplantation. Of course, we will again apply to the Ministry of Health.

But I cannot put my hands down and cannot just sit and wait. Although, I am a weak crybaby, who roars in a pillow... I have panic and fear, but I sensibly understand that no one but me will fight. Friends, everything I need to do, I will do, but I beg you: help me save the child! She is my hero, she withstood high-dose chemotherapy and bone-marrow transplantation, and she got out of intensive care! Support her, please!".

From a letter from Kira's mother.

Name: Chenchyk Kira, 29.01.2015

City: Odessa

Diagnosis: juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, relapse