appeal, Completed Appeals

Vital medicine for Dima

Dima Zhagrin

Date of birth: September 4, 2014

Residence: Gorodishchi, Vladimir Oblast

Diagnosis: Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

With your help Gift of Life is hoping to raise £17,000 for Erwinase for Dima.

In early 2018, Dima fell ill. He started to get tired quickly and complained that his arms and legs hurt. Doctors tried to treat him for arthritis, but it didn’t help. That’s when they ran a series of tests and diagnosed him with acute leukaemia, and that’s how Dima ended up in the Russian Children’s Clinical Hospital.

Dima is a gentle, sensitive boy. Everyone around him in the hospital, doctors and volunteers both, agrees on this. But his mother knows that Dima has a strong personality. A rich imagination too: he invents all his own games, finding inspiration in everything going on around him. He used to have far more material for his games, but in hospital they all centre around “curing” his mother. His other big hobby is building towns. He uses whatever’s handy—construction sets, toys, crockery and furniture. As soon as the town’s ready, its streets are populated with real toy cars. Dima plays on his own and draws in other children and adults. Mind you, he plays only by his own rules. There’s no use arguing or objecting.

His mother thinks her son’s going to become an architect. Or maybe a doctor. In the end, any of Dima’s dreams could come true once he gets through this inescapable and gruelling point in his life: treatment for acute leukaemia. Right now, to continue the treatment Dima needs the powerful but expensive medicine Erwinase. A few packs cost £17,000. We’re really counting on your help. Spasibo!