Help Children with Cancer Access Treatment!

Little Elina was born in Kyrgyzstan and has been a healthy and happy baby. After she turned one last May, she started coughing. Initially, she was treated for bronchitis.   Two months later, she developed a fever along with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.  After test results came in, Elina was urgently referred to Pediatric Oncology in the capital, Bishkek.

While there, in August 2024, she received a diagnosis that changed her family's life. Her parents struggled to sleep for several days after learning that their joyful little girl was sick with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of blood cancer. The chemotherapy began, but Elina's body could not tolerate it, leading to organ failure and sepsis. Despite unfavorable prognosis, Elina managed to pull through.

For several years, Elina's father had been a blood donor, and now he was needed more than ever. Elina frequently needed platelet transfusions, so her father teamed up with a construction team right in Bishkek, close to the hospital where his daughter was fighting for her life. As time passed, however, test results revealed an increase in cancerous blood cells.

It meant that Elina was experiencing an early relapse while undergoing maintenance chemotherapy, and she urgently needed a bone marrow transplant, a highly complex treatment that is not available in Kyrgyzstan.  

To save Elina's life, in February her parents flew her to Istanbul, Turkey, where a hospital accepted her for treatment.  In May, as she turned 2, she finally received a bone marrow transplant from her father. For the next few months, she will need to be watched very carefully by the doctors to ensure any complications are quickly resolved.

Treatment in Turkey is very expensive for Elina and her family.  They were very grateful to receive support from our project as they rely on fundraising to afford medical care for Elina while also caring for her three other siblings.  

If you would like to support brave little fighers like Elina, please mark your calendar for July 16th when July Bonus Day returns with $125,000 in matching funds.  It means that the more money we raise, the more of the bonus fund we will receive, to the maximum of $2,000.  Thanks again for your support of our project!