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Vlad Penchuck, 11 years old – pneumococcal meningitis

August 4, 2010, 14:00 4983 Author: Irina Gavrisheva translated by Daria Sukach www.deti.zp.ua Now the boy's life is not in danger - he recovers! Thank you all for support!

Vlad was born on the 8th of January 1999

Basic diagnosis: pneumococcal meningitis

Medical comment

Penchuck Vlad’s up-to-date treatment news

It’s an ordinary life situation – here lives a happy family. They are doing pretty fine: parents have a good job and are blessed with a wonderful son. But one day everything falls apart… And there is no time to be lost for questioning yourself “Why?”, but to save the precious life of your child. And this middle class family spends all their income and thus, realizes that the moment when there is no money to buy medicine will come soon. So, the family makes up their mind to appeal for help though they feel uneasy to bother people “since there are so many more those who are in a worse situation and need help even more…”

It’s an ordinary life situation – here lives a happy family. They are doing pretty fine: parents have a good job and are blessed with a wonderful son. But one day everything falls apart… And there is no time to be lost for questioning yourself “Why?”, but to save the precious life of your child. And this middle class family spends all their income and thus, realizes that the moment when there is no money to buy medicine will come soon. So, the family makes up their mind to appeal for help though they feel uneasy to bother people “since there are so many more those who are in a worse situation and need help even more…”

Just on the 18th of July nothing portended bad times ahead. Vlad was enjoying his vacations with his grandparents on the seaside. On the 19th of July all of a sudden he got a stuffy nose and started to feel some headaches. It’s not a big deal, is it? But still on the 20th of July the boy consulted a doctor. “There is nothing to worry about, he swam in the sea too much, caught a cold, it happens to everyone” the doctor assured and made some recommendations of treating a mere cold. But at 5 o’clock in the morning on the 21st of July the boy woke up with a fever of 40° C and a severe headache…then there followed an ambulance, the intensive care unit of the city of Berdjansk, coma, a terrible diagnosis of “meningitis”, transportation to the intensive care unit of the infectious diseases hospital of the city of Zaporizhia. There are endless lists of awfully expensive medicines… Rushing from drugstore to drugstore with the single thought to save your only child… Antibiotics, immunoglobulins, life-sustaining drugs and 20 000 UA hryvnyas are gone in three days… However “the condition is extremely bad, a coma, medical ventilation apparatus, and no reflects. Just keep hoping”. And again there is a great need for antibiotics and immunoglobulins. More again and again… but will the family income cover everything???

Below you can read the story about Vlad written by his aunt Svetlana.

“Our lovely, cheerful, bubbling with life and sunny boy is in a coma now. It’s such a terrible word you do not wish to hear or to think about its meaning. It’s a condition when a brain does not function and the ventilation apparatus breathes instead of our child. And behind the glass of the intensive care unit there are parents who, for 11 years, were happy about their son. Vlad is their only child, a kind and clever boy. Now his tender life is in the hands of the Almighty God and doctors who are doing everything possible and impossible so that Vlad can smile again and say to his mom “Good morning!” or “Mom, can play a bit more, please?”. His father’s face is emotionless as all his thoughts and prayers are deep inside. His greatest prayer now is “Live, my lovely son!” Vlad is really trustful and an open-hearted boy, he takes all the kids around as his friends… The day before his illness being with his grandparents on the seaside Vlad invited some boys in his room to play computer games. After this visit there turned out to be no money in his wallet… He earned this money on his own by sticking some ads… Vlad was crying all the evening…But he did not confess to his mom that the boys stole his money as they are his friends”.

We appeal to our dear readers – Help this kind and honest boy, please! Help him to win this terrible battle! Help him to survive!!!

The telephone number of Vladislav’s mother – Inna Leonidovna: +38 (050)322-09-09

You can also transfer your donations for Vlad’s treatment to his mother’s account:

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Happy Child foundation - effective help to the most needy children of the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, since 2004

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