Joyful Kostia with unjoyful blood cancer

Kostya Dovgan from Kyiv is 8 years old and he has acute lymphoblastic leukemia recurrence. Kostya’s illness started when he was 3,5, he’s ill for a long time and he got tired. Usual drug therapy won’t help him and the boy needs bone marrow transplantation from non-relative donor. In Ukraine such operations are not practiced so we will treat Kostya in Italian clinic in Genoa. For this purpose, we need to collect 125 thousand euros.

You’ll go to Italy soon and will try a real pizza! And lasagna. Do you know what lasagna is? – I’m asking Kostya.

Stop talking or I’ll eat my tongue! – shouted the boy and burst into laugh.

Energizer. Kostya is energizer. At first, he is shy, examines me, then gets used to me and fills the room with his laugh, stories and energy. All the hospital volunteers love Kostya – he is their favorite pupil. Even now, he made his mom to take off the table two long benches, brought from his ward a box with erector set he was given as a birthday present and threw at the table all the valuable contents. He’s collecting small details and telling funny stories.

- I’m a cool badminton player! I always win, - Kostya is boasting.

- And tennis?

- Not so good. Tennis ball can hurt me and leave a bruise and I can’t have bruises.

I’m looking at the boy and thinking that he got into this not so long time ago. It’s hard to believe that this is he who’s having another chemotherapy cycle the next day, who’s head is almost bold and who has a lot of pain in his muscles, bones and groin, and this is he who’s being stuffed with hormones for restraining illness.

Kostya is fighting against cancer since March 2011. Weakness, drawing pain in the groin – that is the start of his illness story. Then 8,5 months of treatment and 1,5 years of remission timeout with constant weekly analyses and maintenance therapy.

Illness came back in March of this year with the critically high level of blast cells in blood and need of donor’s bone marrow transplantation. Healthy bone marrow from donor has to catch cancer blood cells and neutralize them like a police officer.

- Have you already seen our new policemen? Do you like them?

- I do.

- Have you taken photo with them? Now you can come and ask for a photo with them.

- What?? A photooo?? And then they’ll handcuff me? – Kostya seems to be astonished.

Now I have to search for Instagram account of our new police and show Kostya numerous selfies with cops, including photos with kids. Kostya doesn’t believe me. In his hospital world nothing changes – drip bulbs, injections, procedures, doctors he’s afraid of and doctors he’s not afraid of, kids in masks and tired moms. And friends, that sometimes take drip bulbs and can’t play with Kostya. Kostya got sad.

Listen, I’m not a policeman, of course, but let’s do the selfie together!

Ok, let’s do it!

Kostya lights up, makes me rabbit ears, pulls back his mask and shows his tongue. Mom asks him to behave, anyway he plays tricks, plays the ape and then laughs, lifting his knees and snatching at his stomach. His clear voice unnaturally strays of the walls along which sometimes walk weak, almost translucent children. They hold on the walls and don’t call attention to the boy. They too sometimes laugh. Kostya too sometimes holds on the walls.

Now Kostya is vivid and racy. But Kostya is seriously ill and he can’t live without bone marrow transplantation and doesn’t have much time. Let’s help Kostya together and collect the necessary amount of money. On UBB we are going to raise a part of necessary funds.

Name: Kostiantyn S. Dovgan, born 09.08.2007

Location: Kyiv

Diagnosis: acute lymphoblastic leukemia, L1- common