Hearing that your child has cancer is just like flying into an abyss," says Aleksashekno's mother. For the first few minutes after my diagnosis I felt as if I was deaf and heard somewhere far away the doctor's voice and scraps of phrases - surgery, chemotherapy... It was Leonid, pulling my hand and asking when we were going home, who brought me back to my senses. That day we never came home.
The small tumor on my tummy, which I accidentally discovered in my son, turned out to be a sarcoma of the kidney. We were urgently hospitalized and started to prepare for surgery. The left kidney had to be removed. We had been in the oncology department for more than six months. We had seven chemotherapy blocks and there were five more to go. The last two months we had radiation therapy under anesthesia. The last two months he is undergoing chemo therapy under anesthesia. He lost so much weight. I am sad to see how he is getting calmer. This terrible disease has taken all the strength out of him. He'd rather be running around and being mischievous, just to be healthy...
NEWS 03.08.20
Mom writes: Hello, our magicians, we had some tests and the thrombocyte counts will be good and we will start the next chemotherapy session on time. There is no point in waiting for the treatment, because even the slightest delay can have terrible consequences and cause the tumor to grow again... Oh my God, don't let it happen... We had the subclavian catheter flush today. He cried and cried so much that he fell asleep afterwards. He wouldn't even eat. I pray to God that this nightmare will be over soon. Thank you very much everyone who helps us, you can not even imagine how much strength your support! Thank you so much to all the donors who donated their blood to save my son! We are determined only to win! My son will definitely be healthy!
NEWS 10.08.20.
Mother Elena writes: "On Friday we were disconnected from round-the-clock administration of chemo. All blood counts are dropping again, white blood cells and platelets are almost nonexistent, the temperature is still high... We have been on antibiotics for two days now. My son is very weak. I thought I could get used to my son's reaction to chemo after eight blocks, but it still makes me sick when I look at him curled up in a ball in his bed... My little kitten. It is so sad without his smile! It just breaks my heart to see him like that... My poor little baby, how can I help you with all this pain and anguish?!
I wake up every day wondering if we will be able to get all the money we need to continue this treatment. And every time I read the words of support and see how many people are responding to our grief, I am convinced - we are not alone! Please give my sincerest motherly thanks and a huge bow to everyone who keeps me going... I have only one request... Please don't leave us, we can't do it without you!
NEWS 18.08.20.
Mother Elena writes:
"Good day, our miracle workers! Thank God, his condition is better and on Saturday he was finally moved from the ICU to the ward! The little boy is still very weak. He is constantly asking for holding and wants me to stay in bed with him all day... My little one has no appetite and no mood at all. It hurts to look at my exhausted little bunny, who just a short while ago was carefree playing with cars, not knowing what "pain" and "sickness" are...
Chemotherapy is on pause for now. My son needs to get stronger and gain strength for further treatment. Today my kitten was injected with the drug "Leukostim" to stimulate the bone marrow. He was tested and we are waiting for the results.
I thank God unceasingly for all of you! For not giving up on us in difficult times! It is so much easier for me and my son when we are going through this terrible time, knowing that you are all with us. Praying for us and helping us! Thank you!"
NEWS 31.08
Mama Elena writes:
"Good afternoon, our wizards! We are desperate... I do not know what to do, who to beg and how to ask ... The collection for Lyosha is going very slowly... The next phase of treatment has to start as early as next week!!! I am so scared that we will not get the money we need, and that the medications will be gone. My boy is DYING without them!
Tomorrow is a very important day. He is going to have a control CT scan, which will show if the tumor is shrinking or not. I am so worried. But I believe in the best! Have faith, and you too, with us! Please pray for my baby! He has endured so much pain and shed so many tears. Don't turn away from our tragedy, we can't do it without you.
Thank you so much to everyone who supports us. You are our angels! God bless you!"
SEVERAL BATTLES HAVE BEEN WON, BUT OUR WAR IS IN FULL SWING...
News 13.10.20
Mom writes: "My brave little warrior continues to confront cancer. Through pain, fear and tears. Lyosha is only 3, but he already understands a lot... My son knows what a "subclavian catheter" is and how to replace and flush it... His games are different: his soldiers are fighting the disease, and the trucks are carrying the health... The little guy often asks me, how do you scare cancer into going away for good? And I...I still don't find the right answer...
Two weeks ago, my baby had a CT scan. We were very happy with the results: doctors had no metastases in his body! And on Saturday my little bunny finished another block of chemotherapy. Thank God this block was ok, no cramps or heavy bleeding that he had after the previous blocks. Now our tests went down to 0. My son is very lethargic and sad, has almost no appetite...
My Moscow doctors suggest that we have to have another Chemotherapy in a little while, and meanwhile we are waiting for the 4 hardest chemotherapy blocks for my son. Even though my son does not always tolerate the treatment well, we cannot stop it on any account! My boy has a high risk group for sarcoma, which means we are at high risk for relapse without the right treatment. There are four more blocks of high-dose therapy ahead of us. Only God knows how Tom will survive them. I rely on your help and prayers! Please don't leave us alone with the disease!
Friends, Lyosha still needs your help and support, the collection is still active! The amount to be collected is prohibitively high for the baby's humble family. 288,000 rubles separate the child from a healthy childhood without pain or cancer. We ask for your help! There is one last push left! We won't be able to help Lyosha to defeat cancer without you!
Lyosha Aleksashenko's news from 10/22/20.
"Look, I'm bruised! It's the cancer that bit me!" - lying on the hospital bed, his hands in a blue blotch shows Lesha.
Lesha has cancer. The horrible diagnosis and the no less horrible reality that the 3-year-old kid has been living in for almost a year. Punctures, drops, bitter pills, blood transfusions, injections... And so daily.
Yesterday the boy and his mother after a short break in treatment returned to the walls of the oncological department, where they underwent all the necessary tests.
Aleksandr's mother Elena says: "We went back to the hospital. We did all the tests. A little boy has thrombocytopenia, which is a compound word doctors use when the blood count drops below 150. Our thrombocytes are almost at zero, and our white blood cells don't want to go up. Blood transfusions have been an everyday procedure for us for a long time. My bunny has been injected with Granocyte several times. I am very grateful to the doctors for their hard work! The main treatment will last until the New Year. We almost have no strength to endure all this horror: the baby and I are very tired!
I can honestly tell you... I am very afraid ... I pray that God will watch over my boy and give him a healing! Please be by our side during this difficult time for our family. Thank you each and every one of you for your kind hearts!"
News by Lesha Aleksashenko from 10/30/20.
His mother writes:
"Everything is still the same with us. Thrombocyte transfusions-Granocyte. And so on in circles. Blood counts are coming up, but slowly. We don't know yet when we will resume the chemotherapy. First the labs should go back to normal at least. It is amazing, but boy is feeling well, where does he get his strength from? At such a rate he manages to play, and began to ask for food more often. But I see how tired he is. Tired of these endless injections, drips. All the time he asks me to take him home. My heart bleeds, so sorry for my bunny... After all, we'll probably be back home for a long time...".
News from Aleksashenko on 11.12.20.
His mother writes:
"196 days in the hospital... I can't believe how fast time flies and we are still fighting cancer in the oncological department... In the evenings, my son and I watch the world through the hospital window. The colorful leaves are falling and the birds are flying away... "Mommy, it's snowing!" - One day Leosha's voice pulled me out of my own thoughts... It was as if I woke up... And I was horrified. The winter came, almost half a year had passed since we first "checked him in" at the hospital, and the cancer was still tormenting my baby...
It hurts to even think about what my baby is feeling... It hurts to look into his tear-filled eyes... It hurts to hear how pathetically he asks the doctors to let him go home, to a place where he is not so afraid...
On December 8, we began the next block of chemotherapy. My boy was started on the drugs Carboplatin and Etoposite. Like all the previous blocks, this one is going hard. The doctors only have time to take his temperature, which rises to 40. The medication makes my bunny's legs twist. My little... He cried so hard, he is complaining now, he says his head hurts a lot. Begs to be held in my arms in the morning... How I wish I could cure a little of his pain with my arms... The only thing left to do is to ask God for healing for my sweetie and for your support!
The doctors are planning to start the next Chemotherapy at the end of December, if my son's body will be ready. Apparently we will have to spend the New Year within the hospital walls...".
