Katia Putiajkina 18.04.2003 Katya Putyaikina died on March 31. Her life lasted only 9 years, and for the last four years she was gravely ill. Sometimes it seemed that just a little more, and she would overcome the terrible disease. Katya had marrow transplantation a year ago, and her condition started to improve very fast. Together with her mother, she was already dreaming of going back home to a small town of Verkhni Ufalei in the Urals, and they had most sanguine plans. But suddenly the results of the tests deteriorated disastrously, and malignant cells appeared. The doctors said there was no more hope. And Galya, Katya's mother, made a courageous decision: to go back home with her daughter. She wanted Katya to see her best dream fulfilled, to be at home again. And the girl spent two weeks there. She felt more or less good all the time and played with her sisters and friends. On her last day, she visited her friends and then went to bed and did not wake up. When they were leaving Moscow, Katya's mother said that the year of life they had been given at the hospital was very important for them. They were always surrounded with love and kindness, constantly feeling everybody's support, and many people were concerned with their destiny - above all, the doctors and the entire staff of the Marrow Transplantation Department. Galya said they had been just like a single family. She was not left alone with her problems and afterwards with her terrible grief. Many people provided financial help, which enabled the doctors to do everything for saving Katya. Galya knew that all things possible had been done. It is very important to understand that not a single chance was missed in the struggle for a child's life. People who did not know them at all came to the hospital to bring some amazing toy for Katya. For she felt too grown-up because of her disease, and her eyes were often serious and sad. Although everything ended so terribly, Galya and little Katya left Moscow with a feeling of deep gratitude and love to all the people who were together with them during this time, the time that was so infinitely difficult for them. 25.01.2003 Dear friends, We have sad news again. Two girls, Katya Putyaikina and Nastya Kurbanova, have a relapse of leukemia. Both have been gravely ill for several years. Katya had aplastic anemia that passed into leukemia. In Nastya's case, one type of leukemia changed for another. We have already told here that the hope of a recovery is faint in such cases. Nevertheless, the parents of both girls and the doctors decided to make a desperate step: marrow transplantation. This was the only possible way of treatment in these circumstances. After the operation, Katya spent a year in an absolutely sterile ward. At first everything went well. The girl read many books, watched video films, made paper dolls of Harry Potter characters. Nastya's transplantation took place without complications; she was discharged from hospital and went home. Their parents hoped for a good outcome. But several days ago the tests showed that both girls again have malignant cells in the bone marrow. In such cases, one usually asks oneself: is such a painful treatment really necessary if the chances are so slight? Olga Ivanova, a Crimean hematologist (who has fallen gravely ill herself), is thinking about these problems with an extreme force and genuine pain in her article entitled "What for?" (http://hematolog.simfi.net/english/we/olga_web.htm): "Sometimes I am asked: 'Is it worth trying to start treatment? Maybe it is better to take him home and let it be, since the tumor is fatal anyway, the child will die a day earlier or a day later. Why inflict extra suffering on him and us?..' My soul always protests against this. It is more than a mere protest. I just 'explode' inside. In despair, this solution may seem to be easier. But we are not God. It is not ours to decide who will live and die. We have no right to shorten a patient's life on this earth. It may be terribly difficult. It may be painful, but hours turn into days, days into months, sometimes even years. A day of life - can it be counted? I do not know where this assurance comes from, but working here as a doctor, I have learned that even a minute of life has its meaning. While a person is alive, his faith in deliverance, his love and hope are alive." Please pray for the two girls, Katya and Nastya, and for Olga Ivanova, the author of the article. 10.06.2002 Katya Putyaikina feels well. The donor marrow has engrafted and is functioning; the results of tests are good. But, since she went through a very complicated transplantation with T-cell depletion, she has got no immunity of her own so far, and so she will have to spend several months in an absolutely sterile ward to avoid any infections. 13.05.2002 The doctors of the Marrow Transplantation Ward are more than satisfied with Katya Putyaikina's condition. She has recovered completely by today; her leukocyte count is 5.3 thousand, and she is feeling surprisingly well. All the signs of a graft vs. host disease on her skin have disappeared. But the critical time is not yet over; however, if she feels well for about a month and a half, the probability of life-threatening complications will lessen day after day. 12.05.2002 Katya Putyaikina went through a haploidentical marrow transplantation. So far her condition is good, her sister's bone marrow gets gradually engrafted, and 1000 leukocytes have already appeared. There is a light rash, a sign of a graft vs. host disease (grade 1). Pains in the mouth (mucositis) are already over, but Katya does not yet eat by herself: she is still afraid. 16.04.2002 Dear friends! We are whole-heartedly grateful to you for helping Katya Putyaikina. All the lacking medicines and expendables were bought extremely quickly due to your help, and Katya's marrow transplantation is scheduled for next Thursday. Sergei bought ATG for 17 250 roubles, Meronem and Zovirax for 60 632 roubles, and Albumin for 9800 roubles. Unilever Co. bought 20 vials of Ambisome worth 153 186 roubles for Katya Putyaikina. Sergei bought Diflucan (40 201.80 roubles) for Katya. Gilead Co. purchased 5 vials of Ambisome for Katya. 10.04.2002 Dr. Dmitri Nikolaevich Balashov, who heads the Marrow Transplantation Ward, told us about Katya Putyaikina and the specificity of the future marrow transplantation in her case. Katya had aplastic anemia several years ago. Unfortunately, this disease may pass into leukemia in some cases, and this is what happened to Katya. The treatment was thus greatly complicated: firstly, because the prognosis for secondary tumors is usually much worse; secondly, because they require a totally different therapy. The only chance for curing the disease in such cases is marrow transplantation. But Katya's sister Yulia is not a fully matching donor. Therefore, the doctors decided to perform haploidentical transplantation. The sister's bone marrow was purified from cells that may cause either rejection or some other lethal reaction of the organism using a special CliniMax device, purchased for the hospital by one of our constant benefactors and friends. This is the first time such a device has appeared in Russia. Its appearance will significantly increase the number of patients with oncological diseases that may be helped, because only one-third of the patients who need marrow transplantation have matching donors. Such operations have been going on in other countries for more than ten years, and specialists have also tried to perform them in Russia, but they are very expensive and involve serious administrative and financial problems. The procedure of working with CliniMax is rather simple: a special set in inserted into the device, and a bag containing the bone marrow or the blood stem cells is attached to this set. Antibodies with microscopic ferromagnetic particles are introduced into the bag. These antibodies get attached to the cells required for the transplantation, and then the device makes all the mixture flow through a high-intensity magnetic field. All the cells attached to the particles remain inside the magnet, and the remaining cells are washed away and poured outside. Afterwards, the magnetic field is switched off, the system is washed through, and the necessary cells are collected in a separate bag. This procedure purifies the bone marrow up to the degree of 99.99%. The bone marrow of Katya's sister Yulia was purified just in this way, and now it will be stored in a refrigerator at a very low temperature till the day of the transplantation. Irina Arustamova donated 100 USD for Katya Putyaikina via the online credit card system. Dmitry donated 600 USD for Katya Putyaikina. Expendables worth 43 057.10 were bought for Katya. 02.04.2002 Masks and gloves (total cost 12 584 roubles) were bought for Katya Putyaikina. 26.03.2002 Irina and Maria transferred 600 USD for Katya Putyaikina via the online credit card system. 23.03.2002 An anonymous contributor transferred 100 USD for Katya Putyaikina via the online credit card system. 18.03.2002 Anonymous contributors transferred 100 USD for Katya Putyaikina via the online credit card system. Good health to you! I, Galina Mikhailovna Putyaikina, address everybody who is not indifferent to human destiny and human grief. Our family tragedy began in 1999: Katya, our youngest daughter, fell gravely ill. The diagnosis was aplastic anemia, severe form. Katya went through two courses of treatment at the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital in Moscow. And, judging by the results of lab tests, the situation was more or less all right. In May, we returned to our small town of Verkhni Ufalei in the Chelyabinsk region. My daughter was constantly surrounded by children of her age: sometimes playing outdoors, sometimes in our apartment. Summer made her skin suntanned, her face fresh-looking, her eyes shining. And, although Katya may study at home, she visited school throughout this September, just like all other children. She studied with pleasure, did not seem to get tired. She had time and strength for making her homework, for taking a walk, for bringing her friends to visit her. Just like any healthy girl! As winter came, she started to ski and sledge down ice-hills. It was so wonderful! Katya was simply shining with happiness. Looking me in the eyes, she constantly repeated the same phrase, "Mommy, I am getting well, am I not?" I agreed with her and was happy myself. We celebrated New Year very well, the whole family was together. This is thought to be a good sign: we are all together and will be together the whole year. But we had a new shock after the Christmas holidays: Katya's blood readings started to deteriorate, and blasts (cancer cells) appeared. I just can't explain what I felt at the time. It seemed to me that I was amidst a nightmare and just had to wake up. I phoned to Moscow, spoke to the doctor, bought train tickets, went to Moscow with my daughter, took her to the ward, but still could not believe this was really happening to us. And then we heard the new diagnosis: acute myelocytic leukemia M4. It seemed that we were facing a deadlock. We cannot proceed with the treatment of aplastic anemia, because it will speed up the growth of cancer cells, but chemotherapy is also impossible, Katya will not recover from aplasia, because the functioning of the bone marrow has not yet been fully restored. A chemotherapy will only cut my girl's life short. I prayed to God, asked Him to hear and help me. And He has really heard me, has not turned His eyes away from me. There is another way out: marrow transplantation. The family has a suitable donor (Yulya, our middle daughter), there is a setup for blood purification, and everything is ready for our daughter to recover and stay with us. But the marrow transplantation operation is very expensive. The medicines alone (Ambisome, Diflucan, Zovirax, Meronem, Albumin) cost 9360 USD, and there are also the expendables. I am just a teacher, my husband is a truck driver, and we will never manage to raise this sum. Oh dear kind people, please help our daughter, give her a chance to survive! She is still so young, only eight years old, and she wants to live so much! I am grateful to everybody who had read this letter and shared my grief, to everybody who will want to give his or her blood for Katya (she needs it badly), to everybody who might want to visit her or write her a message, to everybody who is able and willing to help us raise the funds for the operation and further supportive treatment at the Marrow Transplantation Ward. Donate On-line