Vladislava Kravchenko, or Vlada as her friends like to call her, was involved in a tragic event which left her immobile, last year.
Help Vlada Campaign, a fundraising campaign aimed to help Vlada walk again, was launched at Le Meridien St Julian’s, yesterday.
Vlada is Ukrainian-born, and came here with her family about 10 years ago. A lighting structure collapsed on her and her friends while they took part in a street party at the Ta’ Fra Ben area in Qawra last year. Her friends were slightly injured but Vlada could not get up from the ground and lost consciousness. She eventually woke up in hospital with a spinal chord injury that has changed her life.
Vlada has been in a wheelchair since September after spending four months in hospital. In spite of all the challenges she met, Vlada returned to study as soon as she was discharged from hospital while she worked hard with her physiotherapist to rehabilitate.
She successfully finished her first year of sixth form at St Aloysius College a few weeks ago. Though doctors have told Vlada that chances are she will never walk again, she is determined to return on her feet. As she browsed the internet to learn about similar experiences as hers, she discovered that the only opportunity is a stem cell research programme available only at the Neurovita clinic in Moscow, which costs a staggering e150,000.
Neurovita clinic was the first clinic in the world to receive national approval for clinical administration of stem cells for neurological patients. The treatment is still in an experimental stage but some patients who undertook it did see some improvements. The risks and side effects of the treatment are high but approximately 11 per cent of patients see mobility progress. The clinic provided such treatment to 360 people over the past five years.
The unique feature of the clinic is that it does not use donor, foetal or embryonic cell material and transplants only autologous (patient’s own) cell material. Stem cells that are taken from her own bone marrow and injected into the tissue may risk developing into cancerous cells.
Doctors suggested to Vlada to start treatment as soon as possible to improve the chances of success.
Although Vlada has a strong possibility of winning compensation for the injuries she suffered, court proceedings may take years before the issue is resolved.
Help Vlada Campaign will be organising a number of activities to help increase awareness towards avoiding careless incidents similar to Vlada’s and to raise funds for her cause.
Donations can be made on Bank of Valletta account number 4001824391-6 or delivered personally at A6, 177, Sky Building, Marina Street, Pietà.
More information about Vlada’s story and stem cell treatment is available on the website www.helpvlada.com. Vlada’s family and friends are committed to keep the public informed about the amounts collected and treatment received.