This autumn Darina Bigus made us all feel really concerned! The girl has been recently diagnosed with myeloblastic leukemia. This type of cancer often requires unrelated donor bone marrow transplantation. And that also involves a great deal of money as well as some certain risks…However, it is the patient’s only chance of survival. Darina’s case is rather complicated since her latest two chemotherapy courses didn’t result in remission. This bad sign means the girl needs a more aggressive and complicated chemotherapy course. That also automatically puts Darina on a short time frame. The sooner she undergoes her bone marrow transplant the better.

Thanks to the Life Line Charity Foundation that covered all the treatment expenses, Darina has been admitted to the Pavia Hospital. And thanks to the mutual efforts of many kind donors, Darina has enough money for her long stay in Italy. She flew to Italy in the middle of November.

According to the Italian doctors, it’s necessary for Darina to take one more chemotherapy course before the main surgical procedure. Due to the bad blood tests caused by the chemotherapy (it’s natural since the cancer cells die together with the healthy bone marrow cells) the girl has to undergo blood transfusions. That’s why Darina has been temporally isolated within the hospital walls due to her now fragile immune system. “We can only admire the beauty of Italy through the window”, - Darina’s mother laughs. The girl’s blood tests are slowly improving and we hope that it will finally reveal to us the ways of effective treatment and the date of the bone marrow transplant. And it will give Darina and her mother an opportunity to have a real sightseeing tour around Italy instead of a window one.

Although Darina has been always in the hospital, she has no time to feel bored. Together with other little patients she attends the math, writing and music classes. Besides, she is learning Italian little by little and making some handicrafts. And, of course, she’s mastering the art of baking a real Italian pizza!!!

We honestly hope that the successful bone marrow transplantation will enable Darina to come back home soon and teach us how to bake a real Italian pizza and some Italian words! And we’re also looking forward to Darina’s exciting stories about Italy. Darina’s mother Olga is sending you this message “I’m endlessly grateful to everyone who helped us to raise money for Darina’s treatment. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!”. We’d like to join Olga and Darina and thank you for your great support!

Since it’s emotionally challenging to stay in a foreign country, we’re providing Olga’s Italian telephone number - +393804751024 in case you’re there and would like to cheer this family up!