UPDATE – the money has been raised, and Valeria received her treatment with Defitelio on time. Thank you very much for your support and donations!
Valeria Khudoteplova, 6 years old
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
With your help Gift of Life is hoping to raise £28,470 for a course of Defitelio for Valeria.
Six-year-old Valeria dreams of riding a bike and growing up to be a vet. But her current reality is spending time drawing and playing confined to the sterile box where she’s been isolating in the weeks following a bone marrow transplantation. Valeria’s mum, Tamara, says that even though the treatment for leukaemia is difficult and painful, Valeria deals with it bravely and in a very grown-up way.
Valeria is being treated at one of the leading children’s hospitals in Moscow, hundreds of kilometres from her home village Starozhilovo in western Russia. Back home her dad, older sister and younger brother are waiting for her return, praying for a speedy recovery. Whilst Tamara stays with her at the clinic, Valeria’s dad has had to leave his job in construction to look after her two siblings. The family has found itself in a very difficult financial situation, and it is simply impossible for them to pay for Valeria’s continued treatment without your kind help.
Valeria is still on medications receiving immunotherapy. To cope with post-transplant liver disorder and survive, she needs an expensive, low-toxic drug called Defitelio. The six-pack course (60 vials) costs £28,470 – far beyond the means of the average salary of their region, around £470 a month. It would take Valeria’s parents more than 5 years to be able to save up for this life-saving medicine, and Valeria needs help now to stay alive and to prosper. Please donate today and help Valeria beat cancer and get back to her family. This could be her only hope to recover from the disease!