Maksymkov is only six, but he has to fight with a terrible disease – a tumor of the chest cavity, which has spread throughout the child’s body. It all started two years ago, when the boy complained of stomach pain and started vomiting.
Maksym’s relatives immediately turned to doctors in Nova Kakhovka and Kherson for help. Months of examinations – and the child was diagnosed with neuroblastoma of the mediastinum. Such a tumor is one of the most common and most aggressive among those that occur in children under the age of 5.
Long-term treatment, several courses of chemotherapy, and then occupation. Stara Kakhovka, where the family lives, and Kherson, where the boy was treated, were occupied by enemy troops. Fighting the disease became even more difficult, because constant shelling, lack of electricity and lack of medicine stood in the way of the child’s recovery. At that time, Maxim was receiving dry chemotherapy, and suddenly the child became worse.
In the conditions of the occupation, it was almost impossible to provide proper treatment for the boy. Therefore, the doctors decided to transport Maksym to Lviv, to St. Nicholas Hospital.
“The boy was brought to our medical institution by ambulance a month ago, when he was in a very serious condition and weighed only 15 kilograms. Maxim was completely paralyzed below the chest. In addition, he developed bilateral pneumonia and started bleeding. Metastases spread throughout the child’s body: in the head, bones. The bone marrow was also affected.
In just a few days, our specialists from the department of anesthesiology and intensive care and the department of oncology, hematology and immunology stabilized the boy’s condition. They transfused the child with necessary blood products and gave antifungal antibiotics to cure pneumonia. Maksymko received 2 courses of chemotherapy, 4 more to come. And later there will be a bone marrow transplant, because this is the boy’s only chance for life,” the St. Nicholas Hospital notes.
The child has already gained weight, started to feel his legs and move them.
By the way, annually in Ukraine cancer is detected in one thousand children. Unfortunately, there is no magic pill that could prevent these diseases. That is why it is important to have children examined by specialists in a timely manner.