of Aleksandr:
Hello! I have to address you because, sad though it may be, sometimes the human life or at least its continuation costs money, quite a lot of money…
I was born in Krivoy Rog and lived like ordinary young boys. I was always very active — I was a professional sportsman, I studied music, finished school with excellent marks, had great prospects for further studying, sports and work. Unfortunately, all my plans, prospects and dreams were instantly ruined. I finished school in 2005, started to study in two educational institutions and even managed to work at the same time. But at the end of spring, 2007 my health suddenly got worse — I lost appetite and a lot of weight, a pain in the ribs appeared, I had a constant fever, my blood sample became worse and worse. It lasted for three months as none of the doctors could understand what was happening to me. In August, 2007, I had a bone marrow analysis and was diagnosed correctly — Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, advanced case...
This diagnosis sounded like a verdict. The doctor warned my parents at once that intensive chemotherapy treatment will be very long and expensive, it will take at least five years. Of course, it will be so if I survive, because the disease is very serious and rare and, according to statistics, it is completely curable in 1–2 persons out of 100...
After I was diagnosed, a serious chemotherapy course started. My health improved at once thanks to the first chemotherapy session. Two weeks later I could hardly stand up, the level of hemoglobin in blood amounted to 40 units with 130–160 being normal, I practically didn’t speak and I couldn’t even swallow water, I had to suffer terrible headaches… In that moment I only prayed to God to let me die quickly if I had to rather than to sustain all these sufferings. It was especially painful to see the faces of relatives and friends when they looked at me, cried and could do nothing to help. The moment came when the doctor announced the day of my death, first to my parents, and later I understood it, too. They said that I had only three days left. I was visited by hundreds of people. I received letters, postcards and even financial help. All my former classmates visited me along with the form master, and nobody was worried by trifles of life, everybody wanted me to survive, and I had one goal — to struggle for life.
I needed very expensive medicines to keep me alive and fight death. We caught at any hope, so we sold the grandma’s flat and borrowed several thousand, money meant nothing then, I had to survive.
You know, when I learnt that I had only three days left, it was an even bigger stimulus to struggle for life. And I was so happy when in three days I was still alive, and blood samples, thanks God, started to get better in an inconceivable and wonderful way! Little by little, I started to eat, speak and walk, but only the bone marrow analysis could provide a final answer about my state at that moment. In November, 2007 I had a puncture. You can’t believe how many tears of joy all my relatives had when the doctor, on entering the office, said: “So what? Congratulations — it’s a remission!” My bone marrow sample was like the one of a healthy person!
Treatment is still going on. I have three more years to endure. It is necessary to prevent regression. During my stay in hospital from the beginning of August, 2007 till now, I had to undergo 12 chemotherapy courses, 10 sterile punctures (when the breast bone is punctured to take the bone marrow) and 12 lumbar punctures (the same, but from the spine). And I will have to undergo just as many. Recently I have been diagnosed hepatitis C, and it is impossible to explain in words how many nervous breakdowns and emotional shocks I had to go through! I still need expensive treatment… I also have debts for previous treatment.
At the beginning I was given first group of disability, in November, 2008 — the second one. I cannot work because I need constant treatment, and the second group does not give the right to work… During this year I have to undergo four serious six-week chemotherapy courses, no less than 600 dollars each. It is sad, but my income and debts make further treatment rather difficult, though I have so little to do— just the four main courses! And then my dreams can come true!
Please help me to survive and enjoy life like any ordinary person. I also urge you, if possible, to help me in getting the devices DETA-AP free of charge. All my organs suffered a lot due to chemotherapy, and these devices would help me support and even improve their functioning.
Now I count very much on your help and support.
I will always be grateful and immensely thankful to you!”.
Arutyunyan Paruyr (sponsor):
“Dear partners! It is sad to admit, but everything can be ruined in one moment even if you are full of strength. That’s what happened to my partner — Aleksandr Matkovsky, who came to Intway with a hope for great prospects. At the very beginning he showed stable and confident growth. In the future he wants to work in the Corporation in the most productive way and he is putting a lot of efforts to achieve it. We all believe that it will be so!
I must admit that I felt ill-at-ease when I found out recently what was happening to Sasha every day. His diagnosis is Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. It is a terrible disease which affects the bone marrow and influences hematosis of body cells. In simple words, the boy is dying slowly. Out of a thousand people who have this disease, only twenty have a remission. But a regression may happen even in case of these “happy ones”. Metastases kill a person in less than half a year. So this diagnosis is a verdict.
So I urge you to help my dear partner…”.