Amount raised:
108 572 euros
Amount needed:
106 000 euros
Diagnosis:
Portal hypertension syndrome (mixed form).
Varicose veins of the esophagus (II stage).
Congenital liver fibrosis.
Invitation to clinic...
“When I heard that, I felt like I was in court being sentenced to life in prison,” Andrei’s mother Katya recalls.
It was late July… All I was thinking about was my upcoming vacation. But one pone call made me sharply change my plans and my thoughts were filled with a little boy who was slowly dying and needed help.
I spent a lot of time thinking if I could do anything to help that boy… But while I was thinking one idea came to me: I need to do everything to save his life! The problem was that the boy and his mother life in a small village and the only means of communication for us was by phone. At that moment I did not know what was in my power… I had never seen the boy and his mother. Phone conversations give only part of the real picture… Listening is one thing, but seeing is a whole different thing…
I bought a ticket to Mykolaiv and went to visit the boy, who was at that time recovering from surgery in a Mykolaiv hospital.
When I reached the hospital, I telephoned Katya. “We are out for a stroll. I’m wearing a pink T-shirt,” said Katya.
I saw them immediately… The boy had a big belly and his eyes were deep and adult and full of pain.
Andrei is the fourth child I am helping to whom doctors promised that they would be able to lead a normal life if they had a liver transplant. The three children before Andrei were under the age of one… they were little, yellow kids, who did not understand anything yet. But Andrei… he turned three in July 2008. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but all the “why” questions he asks are not about the sky and the grass, but about pain and hospitals… I offered Katya to go to the hospital ward so that Andrei could have a rest and we could calmly discuss all the difficult issues of life and death… It hurt me to see him walk… He was walking so carefully and slowly… he was afraid of making any sharp movement because they caused him pain. At the entrance to the hospital, there was a newsstand where toys were sold. Katya asked him what he wanted. The boy looked uncertain and started looking for a toy that could make him happy… but never found anything. Katya offered to buy him a set of multi-colored cats, and he agreed.
I am a mother of a three-year old and I know that children at this age begin to argue and assert themselves, proving their viewpoint. I could not understand why this very sick boy was so obedient… He did not whine and did not disobey and did everything his mother told him…
We walked into their ward… Katya undressed Andrei, leaving him in his underwear because it was very hot in the room (it was 30 degrees Celsius outside).
I saw the boy’s big belly and his thin hands and legs… and his eyes. I remember the look in his eyes… Andrei lay on the bed and started playing with the cats his mother had bought him… Like every mother, Katya wanted to show how happy her son made her. She got out a book and started reading to him, not finishing sentences. The boy finished the sentences for her. Then Katya pointed at the cats and asked Andrei what color they were and he answered correctly.
After giving attention to Andrei and letting him be the center of attention, we started on the main issue…
Katya started talking:
I’m 21... Andrei is already 3. My little boy was a desired child, even though I fell pregnant very young. It happened so that I was alone most my pregnancy. When I was three weeks pregnant my husband was called up for military service and he left to serve in the army for 1.5 years… I lived with my parents during my pregnancy. I exchanged a few letters and a few phone calls letters with my husband. When I felt very lonely and was scared, I visited him in the army (that happened two months before I had my baby).
I had an ideal pregnancy… No nausea, no bad tests, the scan showed my son waving at me and the doctors told me everything was fine.
My parents supported me greatly throughout my pregnancy. I recall that and I smile… When I was pregnant I felt like a queen, despite the fact that I was lonely and my son did not feel his father’s hands toughing my belly. I dreamed and read a lot when I was pregnant – I wanted to know everything that was gong on inside of me. I was very happy that I would become a mom soon. When I approached my 41st week of pregnancy, I had my next scan which showed that the baby was a boy. I was so happy I cried.
“I had always wanted to have a boy and I knew I would call him Andrei,” Katya said proudly. “And it happened. I had a son, whom I named Andrei. He weighed 3.6 kilos and was 52 cm long,” she said.
First separation…
Immediately after Andrei was born, the doctors whisked him away…. I was scared and started having terrible thoughts. I prayed to God to make everything fine. The doctors warned me that I had nothing to worry about and that my son would be with me soon. Two hours later a doctor came to me and said: “Don’t worry, but your son is being moved to the intensive care department – his condition is very serious. He suffered asphyxia during birth.”
It was a big blow to me. My long-waited boy was in intensive care… without me. I was hysterical, I cried day and night… I was very sad. Those ten days in intensive care seemed like eternity to me. All I wanted to do was to hold m boy close to me. My boy was attached to an artificial respirator for seven days and was fed through a tube for two weeks. When my baby was ten days old, me was brought to my ward…
“God, it’s over now,” I thought, holding Andrei close to me.
Three weeks later we were allowed to go home…
It seemed to me that all the horrible things were over and I had every right to be the happiest mother on Earth! But… I was not destined to experience that.
My happiness did not last long. When Andrei turned 2.5 months, he started suffering form bronchitis and acute respiratory and viral infections with respiratory distress… We were in and out of hospitals. Every illness was a shock to me… I realized that we would have to go to hospital again. Andrei’s colds and coughs never just went away by themselves. As a mother, I began feeling that it was only the beginning of something…
Fear..
When Andrei was 7 months old, he fell ill with an acute respiratory and viral infection and went to hospital again. One day, I noticed blood in Andrei’s stool. I was terrified. I couldn’t understand what was wrong with my child! I called the doctors… A surgeon came to us and said he would be following Andrei too. They did some tests, which showed that the blood had come from the veins in Andrei’s esophagus. Andrei was diagnosed with “varicose veins of the esophagus.” It was like a knife in my heart…
Uncertainty became my pain…
We were registered for regular follow-ups with a thoracal surgeon and oncohematologist… Everything went well – we were home. I did everything to protect Andrei from infections and colds, but at 1 year 7 months Andrei fell sick again. Everything went according to a familiar scheme: coughing, running nose, but I had no idea what would happen next! We went to hospital. At midnight, Andrei started hemorrhaging and throwing up with blood clots. Andrei was taken to the intensive care department again.
I prayed to God, asking him to help my boy. Andrei sent five days in intensive care, but seven days later everything happened again – the hemorrhaging and the throwing up with blood clots. The doctors decided to operate on Andrei to save his life.
The sentence…
The operation was scheduled for January 4… During the surgery, Andrei was diagnosed with 2–3 degree varicose veins of the esophagus and portal hypertension. The doctors stitched the veins of Andrei’s esophagus and stomach and took a biopsy. The oncohematologist who was present at the operation said Andrei likely had liver cirrhosis. Two weeks later, the results of the biopsy came, which showed that Andrei had congenital liver fibrosis. The doctors said the portal hypertension syndrome was a consequence of congenital liver fibrosis.
And again…
An examination conducted in Mykolaiv showed an improvement (1st degree varicose veins of the esophagus).
Six months later, Andrei started hemorrhaging again. He spent six days in intensive care, and the hemorrhaging resumed ten days after he left the intensive care department… Andrei underwent another operation and was diagnosed with Stage 3-4 varicose (the old vein and the upper part of the stomach were bleeding). Andrei was not fed for five days because a pipe was inserted in his stomach to remove excess liquid… Andrei’s liver stopped functioning normally.
When I was leaving the hospital, I decided to ask the doctor what could heal my son. “In your situation, only a new liver will save your son. All other methods of treatment are unlikely to help and will only enable him to live longer without improving the quality of his life,” the doctor told me.
When I heard that, I felt like I was in court being sentenced to life in prison…
The situation is currently as follows…
Andrei’s documents have been sent to a Belgian clinic for consideration. The donor will be Andrei’s mother. His father, unfortunately, has left them… But luckily, Katya has been fully approved to be a donor.
The response of the Belgian clinic is positive. Katya has received a medical bill from the clinic.
WHAT if the cost of the boy’s LIFE?
The amount needed is 106,000 euros, of which:
+85,000 euros is the cost of the preoperative procedures, the liver transplantation operation, and a 3-months rehabilitation period,
+4,000 euros is the cost of the hotel accommodation for Andrei’s mother for six months,
+10,000 euros is the cost of the food and medical tests;
+2,000 euros is the transporation expenses;
+5,000 euros is the cost of two tests conducted 6 months and 12 after the operation
GOD HELP ALL GOOD PEOPLE!