How Can I Help / Urgent Request
Ivan and Oleksandr Desperately Need Your Help!
Dear Friends and Supporters:
Eight-year old twin boys Oleksandr and Ivan Shchuklin suffer from a severe genetic disorder, agammaglobulinemia, a condition in which their bodies do not naturally produce the vital immunoglobulin needed to fight against illness and infection. Treatment for this condition requires IVIG injections once every three weeks of 18 grams of gammaglobulin medicine per child at a total of $2,000 per month per child. These costly injections provide the twins the needed medicine in order to survive from one month to the next.
About six months after the twins were born, Halyna Shchuklin adopted the two boys and was told that they were healthy babies. Shortly after adopting the twins, she noticed that the boys were not developing normally. Their eating habits changed rapidly. After many consultations and treatments the twins were diagnosed with congenital immunodeficiency syndrome (hypogammaglobulinemia). Years were passing and the twins started to show difficulty with speaking and hearing. Finally the family turned to the First Lady of Ukraine Kateryna Yushchenko for help. Her foundation, Ukraine 3000, immediately contacted CCRDF for support. The U.S. CCRDF team then began researching hospitals to locate the ideal institution which could facilitate and medically treat these twins and we were pleased to work for a month with the wonderful doctors and physicians at the
With every good wish,
Marta Stetsyk
Program Director