Sofia Aksenova

Sofia Aksenova is sure that she will become a doctor and treat children from a terrible disease that is so painful and scary, and that makes their hair fall out...

The seven-year-old child sincerely believes that this is why God put her in the hospital.

In oncology wards children not only gain an indomitable willpower, but also learn to be merciful...

"It all started just before the new year" - recalls Sofia's mother.

"Sofia woke me up in the middle of the night and said she couldn't breathe. The day before my daughter ate a lot of tangerines and I was sure that it was an allergic reaction. The ambulance took us to the nearest hospital with a preliminary diagnosis - pneumonia.

To get sick just before the New Year - not nice. But what can we do, we will be treated ... I did not understand why, but our attending physician insisted on examination by a hematologist and take a puncture. I was waiting for the results of the biopsy with horror and hope at the same time... These few days were endlessly dragging on. When I was invited into the room for a conversation, I already understood everything. By the look in the doctor's eyes I understood... I'll never forget that look. You know, when someone gives you that sympathetic look before they tell you something very, very bad. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia. Blood cancer. The doctor said something else for a long time about the treatment, the prognosis, the statistics of the recovery... But it was like I went deaf, and my world just collapsed. I don't remember how I got out of the department of oncohematology. My daughter and husband were waiting for me at home. We were going to decorate the tree...I will remember that New Year's Eve for the rest of my life... Instead of all the holiday preparations I had to tell the whole family that our little girl had cancer...

We had been in the ward for two months already. Sofia has made many friends here.

I even had no idea how many children nowadays are facing this terrible disease. I also understood that it is very important to be positive. We were preparing Sofia for a long time to lose her hair and she even overdid it - she asked me every day when she would be like all the other kids in the ward - bald... Her hair fell out and she believes that when it grows back, she will stop being sick and we will finally go home...

And we believe that Sofia will conquer this horror and forget that once in her life there was that horrible word - Cancer.

Sofia is under treatment at the children's oncohematology department of the Institute of Oncohematology named after Gusak in Donetsk.
Sofia Aksonova's news from 15.05.20.

Sofia's mother writes:
"Good day to all of you! For the first time in 5 months the doctors allowed us to go home for the weekend! I am afraid to even say it out loud, so as not to jinx it: Now my little girl is in remission. Sofia feels well, but her lab results are not good. Her white blood cell count is very low and this prevents us from starting the second protocol. Our therapist said that the artificial stimulation can be very harmful for Sofia's body. We are so worried about that! We want to forget about this nightmare we are in. Our Sofia is tired.
We have another scheduled test on Friday. We hope the results will be good and she will continue the treatment. Despite the difficult treatment and not so good news, we are very positive and optimistic! We believe that everything will be alright and in the future Sofia will become a doctor, just like she dreams to cure other children of this terrible disease!