On July 6th at 1 a.m., Vika did not become alive. A huge thank you to everyone who helped the young girl overcome this terrible disease!
"In December 2014 I began having difficulty opening my mouth. One morning I woke up and realized that the spoon simply no longer fit in my mouth. For almost six months I was treated by dental surgeons, orthodontists, and later by neurologists, who linked this problem to an even more serious diagnosis. Unfortunately, all the suspected diagnoses turned out to be wrong, and the treatment only made the problem worse. A lot of money and effort was spent on the wrong things. By April I could hardly open my mouth, my tongue started to go numb, and later my cheek, chin and lower lip went numb too.
In May, they finally recognized that the problem wasn't dental and sent me for a more thorough examination, where a large growth was discovered. Based on the results, we were able to diagnose fibrosarcoma of the right pterygopalatine fossa. CANCER!!! It sounded scary, but no one despaired. As it turned out later, my case was not typical, and we had never encountered tumors of this type in Odessa. By the time the tumor was discovered, it had already reached a large size, and removing it was too life-threatening (the carotid artery, jugular vein, and many nerve bundles are nearby; its location — is almost at the base of the skull).
From Odessa, she was sent to Kyiv for radiation therapy. Over a month and a half in Kyiv, I received the maximum permissible dose of radiation. According to the doctors' prognosis, the tumor should have shrunk, and then we could consider surgery. Weeks 5 after completing the course, at a follow-up examination, it turned out that the tumor had not shrunk, but had on the contrary, grown and spread further. My condition worsened significantly. The therapy left a severe burn in my mouth, and I lost my sense of taste. My mouth stopped opening completely, all food was now liquid, and it hurt not only to swallow, but even to move my tongue, and my hearing began to suffer. The feeling of constant pain and a foreign sensation in my head doesn't go away, but I don't want to live with this any longer I don't
In 23 my lifestyle is more reminiscent of that of an elderly woman, and not the young, active woman I used to be. It wasn't until I graduated from university that I was and able to go back to work. Ukrainian doctors said this was an extremely rare case and we don't perform surgeries of such complexity. They were able to help me in Minsk, in the Republican Scientific and Practical Center of Oncology named after N. N. Alexandrov. 4 In November, the tumor was finally removed. It seemed that nothing could stand in the way of my recovery. But soon after the complex surgery, problems with healing began, and the mouth still wouldn't opened. Doctors couldn't understand the cause. The wound didn't heal for over a month, and all the drains were removed only in mid-January.
At a follow-up CT scan, they discovered that I had a relapse and the tumor had grown larger than before. Such rapid tumor growth was not typical for my diagnosis, and my mother became alarmed. A repeat examination of the removed tumor revealed that it was not fibrosarcoma, as previously suspected, but embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, which requires chemotherapy. Due to the misdiagnosis, treatment had to be restarted. I have now already completed three cycles of chemotherapy. My mouth still hasn't opened, but after the first course, my hearing has almost completely returned. And after the second course, positive dynamics began, and the tumor is shrinking.
Because the treatment is carried out in Belarus, all medications and tests are subject to a fee for foreign citizens. The first course cost 1 167 US dollars. Before my second round of chemotherapy, I was diagnosed with a number of infections and a fungal infection, which is a contraindication for the treatment. For a week before chemotherapy, I was given expensive antibiotics and antifungal medications. The bill for the second round of chemotherapy exceeded the bill for the surgery and the surgery, and the bill for the surgery was $011514. Because of my illness, my mother had to quit her job so she could be with me. State disability payments for 5 236 for a month cover only one day of hospitalization . How many more chemotherapy courses are needed is not yet known. Unfortunately, I cannot return for treatment in Odessa due to the need for constant monitoring by the attending surgeon. My mouth still won't open, and a fistula has developed on my gum after the surgery, which requires monitoring with special equipment.
Currently, my recovery is only hampered by financial difficulties. I really want to finish the treatment and return to normal life, but this is impossible without your help."
For information on how to help, see here.
06.06.2017
At 1 a.m., Vika was gone . A huge thank you to everyone who helped this young woman overcome this terrible disease!
14.05.2017
"4 On May, the day after my birthday, I was admitted to the Fundación Jiménez Díaz clinic and had a biopsy. Since the test results weren't very good, the doctor decided to give me a blood transfusion and vitamins. The next day, I had a full-body CT scan and was discharged on Saturday. It turned out the biopsy results wouldn't be ready until 18 May. Flying home and back was too expensive, so we decided to stay in Spain. To save as much as possible, we rented a place a few dozen kilometers outside of Madrid. Our apartment is furnished only in the kitchen and bathroom; the rest is bare walls. There's a busy highway just half a meter from the door (the entrance is from the street). Thank you, Elena, our coordinator, for bringing us a couple of pots and pans and a single mattress, which my mom and I are huddled on because there's not even a sofa here. But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that the medications from Ukraine that brought down my fever are gone. We didn't expect to have to wait so long, especially not at a clinic. Since Monday, they haven't been able to find me a Spanish equivalent of Nimesil, which is sold in every pharmacy here without a prescription. All these days, I've been running a fever from 38.6°to 39.8°. Yesterday it was even 40.1°. Or rather, I'm lying down, I simply don't have the strength to get up. Meanwhile, the tumor, without treatment, is growing by leaps and bounds. It's practically swallowed up half my face. You'd think it couldn't get any worse. But... having failed to find a medication, the doctor is suggesting an unscheduled hospitalization to improve my condition. I was delighted, of course, until they told us the cost of this treatment. How much do you think the wellness therapy would cost? You'll hardly guess— 5 000 euro!!! We were only offered it, it's not mandatory, but they also warned us that without this therapy, they wouldn't be able to start my main treatment in the future. It seems like there's a choice, but there isn't. My mother and I are shocked, confused, desperate; we simply don't know what to do. This is all the money we have right now, and it should have been enough for the first stage of treatment. If we give it to wellness therapy, we won't be able to start the main treatment, since the clinic works on an upfront payment basis. And if we don't start this therapy, the main treatment won't start either. And time flies... And every day without treatment is a small victory for cancer over my body. It's a vicious circle, and I simply don't see a way out. All hope lies with you! People, help me, I beg you!"
03.04.2017
In early March, Victoria underwent a full examination. In addition to the main tumor, metastases were discovered in her femur. It was decided to urgently administer a bone-strengthening medication (the metastasis threatened to fracture). 7 In March, doctors decided to save her leg first. They prescribed radiation therapy to the femur. The treatment was easy and quick, but its effectiveness cannot be assessed for at least a month. No further examinations are allowed until then.
21 Chemotherapy was administered in March.
We plan to conduct more 3 similar courses, and if the results are encouraging, more. One course of this therapy costs 28 thousand UAH. We don't have enough money. And the treatment needs to be done every 21 day. The most important thing is to administer the treatment on time, according to schedule, so that the drug continuously suppresses the tumor, and it won't have a chance.
We are also looking for a clinic abroad that can perform the surgery.
Vika really needs financial help!
"Without the support of kind hearts, we simply won't be able to raise this amount! Don't leave me now, I so want to be healthy, I so want to live! Thank you so much to everyone who's helping me, you give me hope!!! I simply have no words to describe how grateful my mom and I are to you all! We bow deeply to you! Thank you for the opportunity to live in this world!" Victoria
22.09.2016
"Good afternoon!
I've had a relapse. It's my second. The tumor has stopped responding to the chemotherapy drugs that used to produce good results. Behind me are radiation therapy, surgery, 10 chemotherapy courses, several abscesses, and about 650 000 hryvnia (I don't know how to calculate the wasted energy and stress of my loved ones)... and it's as if this year never happened. The size of this infection is now back to where it was when I began my treatment.
As we left my last chemotherapy course, we said goodbye to the Minsk doctors forever. The progress was so positive that everyone was saying my treatment was finally over.
After arriving home, I felt something strange; the pain started to torment me again... I even thought that the last time I'd experienced similar discomfort was a year ago. Pushing away any negative thoughts, I waited for the MRI. The results surprised everyone—RECURRENCE.
We immediately contacted the Minsk chemotherapy specialist, who gently hinted that she had no treatment options for me and advised me to consult with surgeons. In Ukraine, I had long been denied surgery, and in Minsk, they said a repeat operation was no longer possible.
I don't want to describe the feelings my loved ones and I experienced during those days, but believe me, it's terrible when doors close in your face and no one can help, and most importantly, when your life no longer depends on you. I wanted to scream in despair. All the doctors, as if following a long-written script, repeated the same thing: "Treatment is needed in Germany or Israel; the case is too rare.".
Israel... We remembered the Israeli clinic LISOD in Kyiv and went there. It was our last hope, because we never had the money to go to real Israel or Germany.
LISOD decided to recheck the diagnosis and send the post-operative materials to Germany. After confirming the diagnosis, they offered me 2 option:
1. Run one of the tests that will precisely select the most effective chemotherapy for me.
2. Try again to trust in fate and undergo chemotherapy "at random"as before.
The test is very expensive. We don't have 182 thousand UAH, or even 109 thousand UAH. Continuing treatment "blindly" is very scary, because chemotherapy affects not only malignant cells but also healthy ones. It turns out that for a whole year I "killed" my body with drugs that ultimately didn't produce the desired results. I already have stomach and kidney problems, and my leg has started hurting. I simply don't know where to get such a huge amount of money. So I'm asking everyone who can help me in any way! Please help me be healthy! A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has helped me before. My mother and I are SO GRATEFUL to everyone who has already responded and to those who will respond. Now we need your help more than ever."
22.05.2016
"Good afternoon! I haven't written about my situation for a long time because I really wanted to share some good news with everyone who believes in me. Unfortunately, there's nothing good to share yet. After the 7th round of chemotherapy, my mom and I returned home to get a cheaper MRI in Odessa. The first week was incredibly difficult to wean off the chemotherapy; I didn't even have the energy to go to the lab and have my blood tested. My white blood cell count dropped to 0.7, compared to 4, and my hemoglobin was also significantly lower than the required minimum (86 instead of 120). I had to get hormone injections, but my blood counts just weren't improving. Besides my general health issues, I'm also really bothered by the drainage in my neck. Last time, I wrote that I had to make an incision in my neck to prevent pus from accumulating. I don't know why this happened. Perhaps the doctors in Ilyichevsk felt sorry for me and didn't insert the drain or flush it out too deeply (it's a very painful procedure). Or maybe it was something else entirely, but on Friday, a week after finishing chemotherapy, the right side of my neck started hurting. It was very swollen, red, and literally burning. I couldn't touch it, and I couldn't even move my head. That night, my temperature rose to 38.5. I took paracetamol and waited for the morning. On Saturday morning, my mother and I ran to the clinic. There was an ENT specialist on duty, but she just looked at me, shrugged her shoulders, and advised me to see a surgeon. There wasn't a surgeon at the clinic, so we went to the hospital's emergency room. As soon as they saw my neck, they immediately sent us by ambulance to Odessa, to the oncology center. It turned out that almost everything there was closed. We found the surgeon on duty in the inpatient department, in the head and neck unit, showed him a referral from Illichivsk, and thought that was it, that we'd finally get help, but what happened next left us in shock. The doctor was indignant that we'd arrived on a Saturday, which was a day off! He told us to go home and wait until Monday because he wouldn't be doing anything today; he had a ton of his own patients in the department. Neither my mother's tears and pleas, nor the sight of my swollen neck, changed his mind; he simply left. I don't want to comment on his actions, but I realized then that in addition to professional skills, a doctor must also be a human being. Confused and upset, we headed back to Illichivsk. There, we were lucky to meet a doctor who knew how to empathize. My problem wasn't his specialty at all, but he really wanted to help, and he did. A day later, my neck returned to its normal state (the drain is still in place), and my temperature stopped rising. On Monday, we went back to Odessa. At the hospital, in the oncology department, they refused to treat me. The oncology center prescribed anti-inflammatory therapy and sent me home. I spent the second week after chemotherapy in the hospital. We had to take money from the money we'd saved for chemotherapy. It was time for an MRI, and the results were even more disappointing. The new medication also didn't work, and the tumor hadn't shrunk. They'll probably change the chemotherapy again. We're really terrified of the next bill because we're completely out of money. Tomorrow, we're heading back to Belarus because they don't want to treat me anywhere else. I hope they'll develop the right treatment strategy for me there; I really want to finally see some positive changes. 11
A huge thank you to everyone who's supporting me now! Only thanks to your donations can I continue my treatment!"
21.04.2016
"This month has been very difficult. A few days after finishing 5 chemotherapy, I started coughing heavily. Luckily, a chest X-ray showed no pneumonia. But within a few days, I noticed I was getting worse. My mouth, which hadn't opened to begin with, closed completely, and it became difficult to move my head and painful to move my neck. I was terrified. I had to have an unscheduled MRI, the results of which were very unexpected. First, they found a fluid buildup under the tumor, and second, it turned out that the chemotherapy had stopped working and the tumor hadn't shrunk this time. They started draining the fluid, but it kept building up. The next round of chemotherapy was approaching, but with the inflammation so severe, it was impossible. Antibiotics weren't working. The surgeons decided to make an incision in my neck and insert a drain to prevent congestion. The pus subsided, and then they said it was time to start chemotherapy; it couldn't be delayed any longer. They changed the medication. How the tumor will respond to the new chemotherapy is still unknown. An examination can only be done after the next (7) chemotherapy course. Now my mother and I have returned home, and I still have a drain in my neck because the pus continues to flow. We're trying to raise money for the next chemotherapy course, appealing to our local legislators, but so far without success. This next chemotherapy course is already scheduled for 3 May."
21.03.2016
"Hello!
Today I was discharged after my fifth course of chemotherapy. I had a hard time with it, much worse than the previous ones, and my body is completely weakened. I've been scheduled for a sixth course. It's still unclear how much more will be needed. After the sixth, I'll come home again for a follow-up examination. The previous MRI showed a dynamic improvement.
We still haven't received a preliminary bill."
