Kira says, “Doctors from Tel Aviv offered us a radical chance – a new operation. They reckon with removing the major part of the tumor, and perhaps, the entire tumor. It’s risky, but without the operation, Gavryusha’s chance to survive is too little.”
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A Kiss as a Sign of Health
// Gavryusha Grigoryev, 1 needs to have his brain tumor removed
Imagine: mother, father, son, holidays, Italy. A minor accident. Their car shook for a moment, and they got a bruise, one for the three. The bruise appeared at the son’s neck, it was a trace of the safety belt. Doctors didn’t find anything at first, but suddenly… attack, spasms, ambulance, hospital. Coma. Cerebral hemorrhage, hydrocephaly. Tests, diagnosis: ependymoma. In other words, brain cancer, a very aggressive one. An operation in Israel will save the boy. The cost is $67.500. No money. It’s a nightmare. No, it’s not. The boy’s name is Gavrila Grigoryev, he’s from St.-Petersburg, he’s 1. His mother’s name is Kira, his father is Roman.
As they were in Italy, Gavryusha was allowed to spend 10 minutes with his parents on his birthday. It was not that long ago – on May 28. Gavrila was in a ward of Gazlini Pediatric Institute, Genoa. His first operation had just been carried out. Doctors said they had to wait till the bruise dissolved, and then tomography would show what had caused the hemorrhage. The version of the car accident seemed the most probable, but the doctors found the clinical presentation a bit strange, and supposed that Gavrila had some anomaly before the car shook on the road.
Within the eleven months of his life Gavryusha fell ill only once – he caught a cold.
In Genoa they usually let only one of the parents visit a child. But they made an exclusion for Gavrila. Why? Kira, his mother can’t explain it. She says they fell in love with him.
It takes the boy much time to recover after the operation. It seemed to the parents that Gavryusha got blind – he didn’t recognize them. But they were mistaken, fortunately.
We’re in Israel, in a café of Tel Aviv. The boy smiles at Kira. In shorts and a T-shirt, he sits in a pram, and he’s barefoot because it’s very hot here. Gavryusha smiles. You can see a scar on his head, above the forehead. It resembles a quarter of some planet’s orbit. He has another one going round his neck. The first one is a trace of the struggle against the hydrocephaly, and the other one was left after the operation where the Italians removed a part of the tumor.
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For those who are encountering the Russian Aid Fund for the first time
The Russian Aid Fund was founded in 1996 to assistant the authors of desperate letters sent to Kommersant. We verify the letters with the help of local authorities, then publish the letters in Kommersant, Domovoi magazine and on the site www.rusfond.ru. If you decide to help, you will receive the banking details of the authors of the letters, and the rest is up to you. You just help you help. This approach has been popular with our readers. More than $8.4 million has been collected. We also organize relief efforts during national catastrophes, for 53 families of the miners who died in the Zyryanovskaya Mine in Kuzbass, 57 families of the policemen who burned to death in Samara, 153 families of the victims of explosions in Moscow and Volgodonsk, 118 families of the sailors who died on the submarine Kursk, 52 families of the hostages who died in the seizure of the performance of Nord Ost, 39 families of those who died in the Moscow Metro on February 6, 2004, 100 families who suffered losses in Beslan. The Fund is the winner of the Silver Archer award.
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Address: P.O. Box 50, 125252 Moscow, Russia
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“Gavryusha,” I say in a soft voice touching his heel carefully.
The baby smiles, and I think he even winks at me. Or it only seemed to me? He likes the café for sure, he likes it when the waves break against the shore leaving the salute of splashes, there are a lot of lights round us, and Gavryusha can see his father, and his mother gives him a spoon of apple jam.
Kira tells me what happened in Genoa, “It took the grumes as long as 5 weeks to dissolve. And then the tomography showed a brain tumor, in a place that is hard to operate on. It penetrates from the fourth ventricle in the brainstem. The Italian doctors confessed that it’s impossible to completely remove it. It’s a life threat, they said. On June 18 we had an operation, and the tumor was removed only partly.”
At that time it was found out that Gavryusha had an anaplastic ependymoma of the third stage. Ordinary treatment for this sort of cancer with children under three consists of a series of tough chemotherapy courses and radiotherapy after it. But in Gavryusha’s case radiotherapy is counter-indicative – the impact on the child’s growth and development may be irreversible. And when there is no other way out, they apply an extra-targeted radiation treatment of the tumor proper.
Returning to Russia is out of the question. Oncologists in St.-Petersburg confirmed it to Kira that such radiation treatment must be carried out abroad, and the boy may need it at any moment. Research work will follow each course of chemotherapy, and if it shows that the tumor still grows, they’ll apply radiotherapy immediately.
Gavryusha now needs sea air, walks and good food. He needs to become stronger to stand the operation, radiation treatment and chemotherapy. He has the best food. The mother gives him breast milk, which is the best thing she can support him with.
Kira says, “We turned to several western clinics, many of them refused to take us, and the cost of treatment in others is just inconceivable – half a million dollars! Suddenly doctors from Tel Aviv offered us a radical and the only chance – a new operation. In the MRI shots, they saw an opportunity to remove the major part of the rest of the tumor, and perhaps, the entire tumor. It’s risky, but without the operation, Gavryusha’s chance to survive is too little.”
After the operation – let’s hope for the better! – we’ll need chemotherapy, radiation treatment and a long rehabilitation. It may last for a year. Now we only need to believe and get prepared.
For all that, head of the oncological pediatric clinics of Haim hospital Shiba Yoram Noyman tells me, “The boy is ready for the operation, we shouldn’t postpone it, otherwise the tumor may start growing again.”
We talk in his study, then the doctor takes me round the sunny clinic, which actually doesn’t resemble a clinic at all. Colored tables and chairs in the halls, computers near every bed and on them so that you could play games or watch cartoons; a frog room with frogs of different shapes – here children undergo biopsy and other painful procedures. Perhaps, it’s a coincidence, but we meet people with happy faces only.
I think that it’s better to be treated in a clinic like that. You have more chances to recover. I remember Gavryusha, how he kissed me – he even doesn’t know me well. And I remember Kira say that a kiss is a sign of health.
Help Gavryusha, please.
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857.775 roubles needed to rescue Gavrila Grigoryev!
They told us in Tel Aviv that the operation will be performed at the Suraski medical center. Head of the children’s neurosurgery ward of the center Professor Shlomi Konstantini is ready to operate at the beginning of August already. He says, “This boy has ependymoma of the third stage. The rest of the tumor must be removed whatever, and after the rehabilitation radiotherapy must be started. Well, it’s not that safe to apply radiation, but we’ll affect only the cranial fossa. The parts of the brain that are responsible for intellectual development will stay intact.”
Professor believes in success. He knows what he says. according to him, in Israel they manage to save 70% of the children that have the same tumor as Gavryusha has. In European terms, the chances are very high.
The Suraski medical center has charged the Grigoryevs with $67.500. As usual, our permanent partner Ingosstrakh will donate 417.000 roubles (see the details at www.rusfond.ru). Another charity fund will transfer 300.000 roubles. So, we lack 857.775 roubles.
Dear friends! We turn to you, those who have already had their holidays, and those who are going on vacation. Please, do not hesitate to help even with a small sum. We appreciate every rouble. You help is welcome!
The Israeli medical center won’t accept small sums. It’s simpler to transfer private donations in roubles or in dollars to the bank account of Gavryusha’s mother Kira. Legal entities could transfer money to the Pomoshch (Aid) fund, whose founders are the Kommersant Publishing House and Lev Ambinder. Your donations will be redirected to Tel Aviv immediately. You can find all the details with the fund.
Russian Aid Fund experts
Olga Korshakova
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 01, 2008
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