To reduce mother's pain. 3 stage

When life, literally, can be bought for money. Oksana has cancer. While she takes medications, she lives. 22,000 UAH per month. In the event of even a short-term interruption in administration of Votrient, her life-saving drug, Oksana quickly starts feeling worse, and suspension/termination of the treatment equals death sentence.

Yet we can save her life. Unfortunately the type of renal cancer Oksana had encountered has proved to be resistant to surgical intervention, chemo and radiation therapies. The cancer has gained complete control over her body, metastasizing to her bones and lungs. She found it difficult and painful to walk, to breathe, and being able to survive seemed no longer a choice. However the physicians kept trying and have finally been able to find a drug which brought her cancer to a stop. Oksana has been taking Votrient for a year.

Within this time her pain, coughing disappeared, metastases were reduced to 1/3 of their original volume… the life came back. “I’m happy to be able to live, to walk, to talk. I’m immensely grateful to all people who help cover the cost of my drugs! I’m thankful to my friends who cheer me up on difficult days, pay their visits, drag me outside – and I can watch the city’s vibrant life, Lviv holidays, the life that never stops.” Oksana lives with her daughter who works long hours at Celentano pizzeria to make their living. Plus, they don’t even have their own place to stay and have to pay for the rent – the salary is barely enough to cover the costs. “I’m not ready to die at the moment. I’d love to see my daughter find a reliable partner in her life, become a wife and then a mother, I’d love to babysit with my grandchildren, or at least to be able to see them,” Oksana dreams, but that’s not what occupies her young daughter’s mind – all she can think about at the moment is how to save her mother’s life.

Name: Oksana V. Smal, born 24.12.1966

Location: Lviv

Diagnosis: Light cellular carcinoma of the right kidney lesion with secondary bone skeleton and lungs