He strong and courageous

"Be strong and courageous, don’t fear, don’t be afraid..." Denys singing to himself. Or to mom and dad? Or maybe to all the children who, like him, got into the net of a terrible disease? Two years ago, a small, brisk boy was diagnosed with leukemia. For more than a year of continued treatment, the boy has undergone 18 courses of chemotherapy with severe complications. And recently there has been a relapse and now the only chance for a child is to transplant the bone marrow from a non-native or haploidentical donor. 

Denys is from the village of Yavoriv, Ivano-Frankivsk region. Now he is 5 years old. He loves music – he constantly chants and dances after Dzi-Dzio or Monaco. And sometimes he takes the prayers - he knows a lot of them. It seems that the boy is singing to forget about the disease, punctures, blasts, platelets and other strange words he had to learn in his early years. Denis was only 3 years old when diagnosed with leukemia. He got into the department of intensive chemotherapy at the OKHMATDYT hospital. Mega-dose chemotherapy which was prescribed to the kid caused a severe reaction: intoxication began, all internal organs were affected, the spleen was enlarged excessively and it had to be removed. During one month Deniska’s brain was beamed. And then, another 13 months, he was undergoing chemotherapy.

Total, Denys received 18 courses of chemotherapy! Unfortunately, the treatment did not bring the expected cure. A year later, the boy was again weak and the tests showed that the disease was back – there was a relapse. In such cases, bone marrow transplantation is required from a non-relative donor or a haploidentical family donor. A few months ago, before the elimination of the Center of the Pediatric Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, haplo-BMT could be done in Ukraine. However, now the only possibility is to seek rescue abroad.

The cost of such treatment in Italy is over 150 000 Euro. Parents filed documents to the Ministry of Health, but there is a large queue and it is unclear when there will be funds to pay for the child’s treatment. Deniska's condition does not allow waiting so long. Each lost day takes away the chances of successful treatment. Now we need to raise funds for paying 30% of the cost so that the child could be admitted to the clinic as soon as possible. We plan to collect UHA 1500 000 on UBB to help the young family and save the child.

Also, you can help Denys by sending SMS to number 88007. This number exists to solve the acute problems of children and adults who are caught between life and death. Sending SMS to number 88007, 5 UAH from your account are transferred to the project "He strong and courageous". Details here.

Name: Denys Kischuk, 04.09.2013

City: Yavoriv, Ivano-Frankivsk region

Diagnosis: acute myeloid leukemia, 1 k, relapse