Nastya GONTAROVSKAYA (Odessa) 16 years old (in 2005) Soft tissue sarcoma

Please forgive my asking for help. But my only daughter Nastya is ill. She is sixteen now. And she has been at a hospital in St. Petersburg since September 2004.

She had a slight injury while playing tennis in October 2003. And is was only in May 2004 that we learned the terrible diagnosis: malignant tumor of soft tissues, sarcoma of the sacral region. The doctors said: nobody can do anything in Odessa, the tumor is already too large. Go somewhere to save your girl. Go as soon as possible: to Kiev, to Moscow, to Europe. We went to Kiev the next day.

There was a difficult operation. But it turned out that part of the tumor remained there. Nastya could not stand up for three months, because the suture did not heal. And after it healed, we saw first signs of a new tumor, which grew from the remains of the first one. After several days, examinations showed that the new tumor was even larger than the previous one. It broke through the suture and surfaced as a bleeding wound.

All the doctors were sure that the situation was hopeless. But we decided to use the last chance and asked Prof. Tarasov (Russia) for help. He is a world-famous surgeon with experience in operations on patients with the 4th stage of cancer. He agreed to operate Nastya.

Nastya was urgently taken to St. Petersburg by a special flight (later it turned out that one day's delay would be fatal).

A very serious operation was performed on September 21, 2004, by a team of surgeons headed by Prof. Tarasov. They fought for Nastya's life for 11 hours. And they succeeded, although the professor had warned us of the risk: the outcome could be lethal, or the whole left leg could be amputated. But Nastya survived, and her leg is here all right.

In December 2004, Prof. Tarasov ordered that Nastya should have chemotherapy and radiation therapy at a specialized child oncology department in St. Petersburg hospital No. 31 (Krestovski island), which is headed by Prof. M. Belogurova. After six cycles of chemotherapy, the doctors were surprised to see that the illness had started to recede (prior of the beginning of chemotherapy, everybody was sure that Nastya had no chance with such a diagnosis and metastases in the lungs. Nastya was still bed-ridden at the time and weighed 35 kg/77 lb). The reduced metastases were removed from the lungs. Nastya gradually started walking, first on crutches, and then the leg became stronger.

Now we have already had 10 courses of chemotherapy; then there will be radiation therapy (25 sessions) and afterwards chemotherapy again.

The results of the treatment are very good. Nastya recovers well after the chemotherapy, and she has even gained some weight. She can walk with a stick. The doctors are pleased to see these results.

But the treatment is so expensive for us! We are foreigners in Russia, and we have to pay for everything. For Nastya's stay at the hospital with her mother ($1500 each month), for the medications and treatment ($1000 more), for food and other current expenses. Each month. And Nastya has been in St. Petersburg since September 2004. I am trying to raise money as hard as I can. Our friends have helped us very much. But Nastya must continue her treatment in St. Petersburg to recover completely. And it means at least four months more.

Nastya's childhood and youth ended when she was sixteen. The terrible disease and suffering made her grown-up in an instant. But I think that the disease has not broken her spirit. She studies just as hard as at school (she had no time to graduate...) and goes on with learning foreign languages. Her command of French is perfect (she received a full DELF diploma of the French Ministry of Education when she was already ill, at 15), and she also speaks English. When at hospital, she also became interested in drawing.

Once Nastya said, in a very grown-up voice, "I just want to think that none of my friends, or acquaintances, or relatives will endure what I have to endure. I just want to think that all their suffering will end on me." And only sometimes, when she feels tired and miserable, she weeps and asks, "MOM, WHEN WILL I GO BACK TO ODESSA?"

Forgive me for this digression. I just don't know how I can describe Nastya's suffering and our grief. Every day we pray to God about her recovery from this terrible disease.

Sergei Gontarovsky
 

Banking details (account in hryvnias): Recipient: OF OAO AB "Ukrgazbank" MFO: 328759 Code OKPO: 20937097 Recipient's account: 2625371 Purpose of payment: Help in treatment of daughter. Personal account of Sergei Vladimirovich Gontarovsky 262598000336. To transfer money in roubles, USD, or euro: You can using the banking account of our Mission but necessarily mark your donations as "Voluntary donation for the treatment of Nastya Gontarovskaya."

October 27, 2005. The happiest day!

"Today is the happiest day for us!      Yesterday Nastya had a very important examination: a CT scan. Everything is wonderful! We are in the seventh, no, tenth heaven!      Also, today the doctors received a letter from the St. Jude hospital (the largest child cancer hospital in the United States), which states that an operation and a visit to this hospital are not necessary now. They said that first there should be a CT scan (just this one, which showed excellent results!), and then we should wait a month and repeat the CT examination. And even if the second scan shows that something is wrong, they promised to send some "fantastic" medication (yes, this is what they wrote), which can be applied in St. Petersburg as well. As to its cost, they say that it is also fantastic (they didn't even tell us!), but we are not afraid, because so many people from Ukraine, Russia, and other countries have responded to our plea and helped us.      So now, on the basis of this certificate from St. Jude and excellent CT results, Nastya has received the best present: she may go home to Odessa for a month (and after this month, she is to visit St. Petersburg again and have the necessary examinations)!      We just can't believe this, after all these months. Nastya and Natasha (her mother) have spent over a year at hospitals. Nastya says that she can't imagine herself leaving her ward.      Natasha bought train tickets today, and they will be at home on November 1."

October 6, 2005. A letter from Sergei Gontarovsky.

     "Nastya had an expensive (15,000 roubles/$525) PET examination (positron emission tomography), which showed that there are still three suspicious sites in the region of the surgery but their size has notably decreased in comparison with the previous examination.
     Prof. Belogurova is convinced: although histological examination of these sites did not show the presence of malignant cells, they should still be removed, because it is just possible that the histological probing did not exactly "hit" the target cells. Her opinion is also based on the fact that PET is a very reliable method, which accurately distinguishes "bad" sites from "good" tissues.
     Since Nastya recovered after 12 courses of chemotherapy without serious complications and these courses were efficient, Prof. Belogurova said that we should probably continue the chemotherapy in hope that it will destroy the residual tumor at last. There will be another PET scan after two courses, and we will see the dynamics.
     The professor said that maybe an operation would be possible if the localization were different. But now the surgeons are afraid that yet another serious operation on the sacrum may maim the girl. And so we must think twice before deciding on this operation. Also, the doctors said that such an operation cannot be done in Ukraine or Russia (well, actually, the surgeons can remove the tumor, but what will remain of the child?..). And so our only hope in this case will be an operation at a foreign clinic.
     In this situation, we decided to go on with the chemotherapy while it is still effective. I am not sure that it will completely eliminate the tumor (although I do hope, because earlier the effect was surprisingly good).
     Simultaneously, I am starting to search for information on a specialized clinic in Israel, which did not refuse (in contrast to European hospitals) to consider our treatment in May, when we needed an urgent operation. This possibility is for the case if the chemotherapy is not effective enough. Of course, a lot of money will be needed (about $65,000), but have we got a choice? So, we will fight for our daughter's life with God's help and with your help. We pray to God that this operation will not be needed, but at the same time we should be ready for it at any moment.
     We constantly receive your help. Thank you very much!
     Our benefactors in Ukraine were Elena P. Volynskaya, M.I.P., S.I. Savchenko, I.A. Chertilin, Alvona Co. and anonymous sponsors. The total sum was 4835 hrv ($967).
     In Russia, we received help from the AdVita charity foundation through Lena Gracheva (12,000 roubles/$420) and also from Leonid Franz, Anatoly Lipinsky from Estonia, and many other people from Estonia known and unknown to us ($3200).
     Your help is priceless for us in these difficult times.
     Yours respectfully,

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