Pantin Sergey

Parents of Pantin Sergey Aleksandrovich, date of birth: 17.10.2015, residing in Vologda, asked the Fund for help.

 “In April of 2020 our son Sergey was diagnosed with a horrible disease which shocked the whole family: neuroblastoma of posterior mediastinum on the right, with metastatic spread into the bone marrow, stage 4, high risk. There is no words to describe what we felt at that time! We still can’t get a hold of our emotions. However, we have to get it together and try to think adequately for the sake of our child”.

 Seryozha went to kindergarten and football club. There was nothing pointing to the trouble that was waiting ahead. The boy’s mother is a healthcare worker, so she kept controlling the state of health of her child. There were no warning symptoms. In late March, after coming home from the kindergarten, Seryozha complained about stomach pain. “That very day we went to see a surgeon. He told us it was not appendicitis, and prescribed treatment for gut disfunction.  On the next day we visited our pediatrician who said that we had to check the gallbladder. After a few days, while being treated, Seryozha had a fever, his body temperature raised to 37.2 and then to 39. It would go down for a short time, and then he would have fever again”.

 The condition of the boy required urgent examination. The following specialists consulted the child: primary care pediatrician, gastroenterologist, and surgeon. The child had to undergo ultrasound of the abdominal cavity and kidneys, a blood test to detect various parameters. Every physician diagnosed him with a new condition and prescribed new treatment. Seryozha felt worse and worse, he got weak, spent almost all of the time lying down, kept crying, and lost body weight.

 “On April the third my husband and I insisted on hospitalization, so our boy was admitted to the infectious disease department of Vologda regional pediatric hospital with the diagnosis of “fever of unknown origin”. We were prescribed with antibiotics, but our son’s condition did not improve. Examination started, and... X-ray of the chest showed a gigantic formation in the posterior mediastinum complicated by pleuritis. That was the day that destroyed our calm and normal lives...” Seryozha was transferred to the department of hematology and oncology to clarify the diagnosis and start treatment. MRI, CT, biopsy, multiple tests, anesthesia procedures and bone marrow punctures followed.

 “In the end we got the precise diagnosis. At that moment we felt so scared! It was pure animalistic fear, and total confusion. Until the last moment we kept hoping that this was some kind of a mistake, that the neoplasm was benign. Unfortunately, our hopes did not come true”.

 It was very hard for the parents to realize and admit that their child was sick, especially taking into account how serious and dangerous the disease was. “We felt whole range of emotions, starting from anger — “Why us? Why our family?” — to the feeling of hopelessness, and guilt — what if we did something wrong, why didn’t we do an X-ray earlier, why didn’t the doctors or us think about it earlier?”

 Sergey’s condition worsened, his blood parameters were becoming worse and worse, so chemotherapy was started almost immediately — there was no time to waste. In Vologda Seryozha underwent 3 courses of chemotherapy according to NB2004 protocol. He was not spared of side effects and had nausea, vomiting, hemoglobin and platelet level decrease. “Our son is a fighter. At his age, he had to go through so much — you wouldn’t wish this even on your worst enemy. I look at him and I’m amazed at the strength of character he shows at such a young age. He doesn’t understand much, but he keeps grinning and bearing it”.

 After the 3rd course of chemotherapy Sergey and his mother were sent to Medical Center named after D. Rochachev for further treatment and examination. All this moving around is very hard for the boy, he cries because of not being able to see his father. In Moscow Seryozha underwent 3 more courses of chemotherapy, underwent a tumor resection surgery and bone marrow transplantation on 28.09.2020. According to the results of control examination, the dynamics is very good!

 “After studying the information about our disease, and talking to the mothers of other children with the same diagnosis, we know now that we have a chance of recovery. He needs to undergo immune therapy! However, our family is unable to cover the cost of this chance! As any other parents we simply want to do our utmost”.

 The doctors of the National Medical Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology named after Dmitry Rogachev convened a case conference, and according to their conclusion, chemotherapy shall be started on day 100 after bone marrow transplantation. It will be January of 2021. 

 “This sum is other-worldly for us, we are unable to find this kind of money on our own. If we could sell everything we own, we’d do that, but the apartment is encumbered by the bank, the father of the family is temporarily unemployed, and the mother spends all her time staying with the child at the hospital”. Time is crucial in case of neuroblastoma. Immune therapy has to be started on time! The child has a chance to defeat the disease and forget about it forever!