CHW’s mission is to passionately support programs and services for children, healthcare, and women both in Israel and Canada. One way that CHW fulfills its mission is through supporting Hadassah Hospital.
Most recently, Hadassah Hospital’s Paediatric Hematology Department undertook treating children from Northern Russia who have a rare and fatal disease called Marble Bone Disease, commonly known as Osteopetrosis.
The doctors in Russia were unable to offer treatment to these children, and knew that this would lead to a very painful death. One such little boy, named Kirill, was told that he would eventually lose his eyesight and hearing. His grandmother, Svetlana Izozsimova refused to believe that there was no helping her grandson and searched online for medical centres who could help.
Svetlana discovered that Hadassah was treating Arab children from Hebron who had been diagnosed with Osteopetrosis as well. Svetlana contacted Dr. Polina Stepensky from Hadassah Hospital’s Pediatric Hematology Department asking for help.
Kirill arrived to Hadassah and underwent a bone marrow transplant. Since this time, he has been slowly getting better!
In Russia, one out of every 4,000 children are born with this genetic mutation. As families in Russia began to hear about he positive treatment Kirill received, they decided to bring their children to Hadassah in the hopes of saving their lives.
14 Russian children have been treated thus far; preventing the loss of eyesight and hearing while providing them with the opportunity to live a healthy life!
