At first, together with Ilonka we’d like to thank everyone for their amazing support, not only financial but also spiritual.
On 17th May 2017 I received the results of the histopathological examination after Ilonka’s second surgery that took place in April. We are very happy because the result didn’t now show cancer tissue in the removed parts of organs.
Currently, Ilona doesn’t require chemotherapy and she’s attending a schedule of strict follow-up visits, which occur every two months and are carried out by an oncologist in the Oncology Outpatient Clinic at Banacha Street.
We are immensely happy and hopeful that the disease won’t come back. Ilonka doesn’t give up and keeps on going. She’s undergoing physiotherapy and specialist examination every two months.
On 25th July 2017 the blood examination results – tumour markers, tomography and USG were good. We are waiting for the next visit in October 2017.
We know, however, that from now on Ilonka has to remain under strict doctor’s supervision, that living with diagnosed malignant cancer is, as I’ve mentioned before, living on a ticking nuclear bomb. That’s why we very kind ask the Donors to support us in our continuing fight, this time so that there is no relapse.
Full of home that Ilonka has won.
Like Ilonka always says: ,,Ilona vs cancer 1:0″
Ilonka’s Mother Csilla Oszczyk
Ilonka is after the second surgery. The surgery was performed on 25th April 2017 in the Outpatient Clinic of General Surgery, Gastroenterology and Oncology at Banacha Street in Warsaw. She’s still under care of oncologists and the professor who performed the surgery.
During a long, 4-hour surgery the whole liver lobe, lymph nodes and the gallbladder were removed.
Currently, since 4th May Ilonka has been staying home and trying to return to full health. She’s not giving up the fight. She wants to live so much and make her dreams come true! It is a hard time for us as we wait for the histopathological examination results. We will decide about the further course of treatment on its basis.
Ilona is a very brave girl, she handles the after-surgery pain and difficulties with not speaking with great humbleness.
When asked what is her illness she says:
“I had cancer but it’s gone now, it has been removed”.
Her determination and belief in her victory gives us all the strength necessary to carry on.
As we know the diagnosis: malignant liver cancer means constant life on “a nuclear bomb”. The fight lasts through the entire life and there’s now way to give cancer a chance to win.
We want to privde Ilonka with the best conditions for this fight and the most effective treatment. Because fighting cancer is not only medication. It’s also the care of a dietician who specializes in cancerous diseases, it’s proper nutrition directed towards the fight with a cancerous disease.
In this fight, the whole scope of actions is important. Actions that have to provide the ill person with strength and peace of mind. It is associated with great costs that we are unable to cover on our own.
Dear Donors, we will keep you posted about Ilonka’s heath condition and about her treatment. With this disease there’s no time to waste, we have to act all the time and we’re doing it with your help.
Now we’re waiting for the examination results hoping and believing that they will be positive for Ilona.
At the time that I am writing these words I am already thinking about tomorrow when I‘ll have to face the collection of results for the second time. As Ilonka’s mother I can’t even express what I’m dealing with because there are no words for it, but I know that faith can work wonders.
We turn to everyone for further support with donations, each amount matters. At the same time we’d like to thank you for you past help.
Ilona is only 21 years old.
A terrible diagnosis has been made in March after the surgery. Malignant liver cancer. The diagnosis interrupted a calm life of a young girl who’s full of life, dreams, and plans.
Ilonka has never smoked cigarettes or drunk alcohol, she led a healthy lifestyle. She has been actively practicing dance with elements of acrobatics and ballet for the last 15 years. She had and still has plans to get accepted to the desired university of physical education in Warsaw and return to her dance group. Although it has only been a month and a half from the first surgery and Ilona is still weak, she’s been attending school. In order not to waste time, she’s learning for a massage technician. She’s a good student. She’s waiting for her second surgery and the inclusion of chemotherapy into her treatment plan.
I will never forget the day when I got an SMS from Ilonka saying:
“mum I felt a bump under my skin”.
In that instant, and it was in October 2016, my life stopped. I hurried back home.
Everything has been different since that day. Fear, pain and racing thoughts. My child is ill. Despite all of that I hoped, and she did as well, that it’s nothing serious.
Ilonka underwent specialist examinations but none of them indicated the nature of the problem. We didn’t give up hope. In December 2017, Ilonka’s condition was consulted in the Independent Public Central Clinical Hospital at Banacha Street in Warsaw at the Department of Surgery and Liver Oncology. We were asked to do another MRI with special hepatobiliary contrast. It is a very precise examination to detect liver lesions.
The examination result also didn’t completely reveal that we’re dealing with malignant cancer. The examination indicated an unusual tumour. A tumour with characteristics of being slightly malignant. We still had hope, until I collected the result of histopathological examination (13th March 2017), after my daughter’s surgery.
The examination result sounded like a sentence. Hepatocellular carcinoma.
Tears were running down my cheeks and I wanted to scream but my throat would not generate any sound. Doctors were passing by but I couldn’t move. I was waiting for the professor who had to confirm what I’d already read. I didn’t know how to tell her that. What should I do? – I asked myself. How to tell my 21 year-old daughter that it’s not like it should be, that it’s not the way it should’ve been. Ilonka is a brave girl with great will to live, who often supports other people with her empathy and personality.
After reading the examination results, she simply said I’ve never smoked, drunk, I lived a healthy life and I have cancer”.
After speaking with the professor we heard a proposal for our treatment plan: surgery and chemotherapy respectively. Ilonka is currently waiting for the next surgery that is supposed to take place in April and also for her further treatment. Her scar after the first surgery hasn’t fully healed yet. However, Ilonka doesn’t give up and we don’t give up either. She still dreams of a happy life and realization of her modest dreams. She’s weak and thin but she’s pushing forward towards her chance to live. However life hasn’t been the same for her and her kin since she received the results. Ilonka would really like to avoid chemotherapy, she’s very afraid of its side effects. That’s why we want to provide her with targeted therapy or other less invasive treatment but more efficient at the same time. Those methods are very expensive, both examinations as well as treatment.
That’s why we turn to you for support with donations and also 1% tax deduction from everyone who can offer Ilona her chance to live.
Ilonka Ilonka’s mother, Csilla Oszczyk