appeal, Completed Appeals

Help Slava beat leukaemia

UPDATE – £10,500 has been raised for Slava. Thank you very much to all who donated and supported this appeal!

Slava Protopopov

Date of birth: 14 September 2017

Residence: Nadym, Russia

Diagnosis: Juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia

With your help Gift of Life is hoping to raise £10,500 for a course of Defitelio for 3-year-old Slava. Donate now!

Three-year-old Slava Protopopov from Nadym is a charming, energetic, and engaged little boy. He’s completely devoted to cars, especially construction machinery. Watching the progress of construction works from the window takes hours and hours, and Slava never gets tired of it. His parents even gave him a toy set of trucks, diggers and concrete mixers.

Slava is an incredibly smiley and agile child. It feels like he has a perpetual motion machine inside. He cannot sit in one place for a minute, he is eager to play outside all the time. When going out for a walk, he runs tirelessly or carries his favourite car on a string.

Looking at Slava, you will hardly guess that for almost a third of his young life he is being treated for a serious illness. He has juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia. It is a rare and serious disease, a type of chronic leukaemia. The only way to cure it is by bone marrow transplant.

Transplantation and Defitelio to save Slava

At the end of April, Slava had one transplant with his dad as a donor. But the transplant did not take, unfortunately. Therefore, a second procedure was carried out in August. This time, Slava’s mum donated her cells for transplantation.

Slava is feeling much better now but needs supportive therapy to recover. When he received high-dose chemotherapy before transplantation, Slava developed problems with liver vessels. To cope with this, the boy needs a course of Defitelio – a highly effective, low toxic drug, which is not available in Russia.

The cost of the course of Defitelio for Slava is £10,500. The state does not provide this expensive medication, and the cost is far too large for Slava’s parents. We ask you to donate and support little Slava and his family.

Please donate via the button on top of the page or HERE.