This cancer kills 50% of children! We are begging for HELP!
After we got married, we wanted to start a family. God listened to our prayers - I got pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy. Labor went well. All the doctors were friends of our relatives! Our whole family picked us up from the hospital. We chose to name our son Danis (we call him Dania) because of our family's Russian and Uzbek ancestry. Danis grew up in a loving home. He met friends and played tennis and soccer. He wished for siblings, though. In 2020, his dream came true - I gave birth to our second child - a boy. We were overjoyed! We traveled to the mountains, swam in a swimming pool, enjoyed time with friends, and took care of our new baby. And then, our world fell apart. In September 2021, Danis' kindergarten teacher noticed he became less active. He also developed back and abdomen pain that woke him up at night. My husband and I visited all available specialists, including pediatrician, neurologist, traumatologist, surgeon, and urologist. The alleged diagnosis - hydronephrosis, which turned out to be wrong, was treated for three months without success. It wasn't until our son had an MRI scan in December 2021 that we found out about his metastatic cancer. The indifference and lack of professionalism of some of the doctors in our city made us travel to Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan. While many specialists there refused to help us - in their opinion, our son had little chance of recovery, we finally came across a wonderful doctor who agreed to treat Danis. We started expensive chemotherapy. The 10-hour surgery to remove the tumor went on for what seemed like an eternity. Our son lost a lot of blood. The doctor recommended a bone marrow transplant in India since that type of surgery was unavailable in our country. When we got there, we were told that Danis's bone marrow didn't produce enough stem cells and recommended an allogeneic stem cell transplant (from a donor). We traveled back to Uzbekistan and sent inquiries to Israel, Russia, and Turkey. The Antalya clinic (Turkey) offered the most reasonable option, so we sold our small company and a condo to afford the treatment. The Turkish doctors, however, detected cancer recurrence, which made the stem cell transplant impossible, and referred us to a hematologist-oncologist in Istanbul. The healthcare team decided to offer Danis a combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy. The cost estimate was mind-blowing! We had no other choice but to start raising money. Our friends, family, bloggers, charity, and strangers joined us. After five courses of immunotherapy, Danis' health condition improved, with only four metastases left - two in the brain and two in the left adrenal gland, near the primary tumor. At another healthcare team meeting, a decision was made to continue immunotherapy, start radiation therapy, and remove the brain metastases. We received a second cost estimate of 273,000 dollars, and so far, we've only managed to raise a part of that amount! Danis is our hero who is brave and determined, and although he gets nervous during the treatment, drawing and watching cartoons calm him down. Please donate to our fundraiser! Continued cancer therapy would allow him to achieve a full recovery and regain his childhood.