Ingrid has turned 9. It is truly a gift to have the chance to tell your child Happy Birthday again after a diagnosis from which in Romania patients die more than in other countries, because of the treatment conditions. Ingrid and Iuliana, her mother, left Iași for Timișoara for an additional chance of living, but they were away from their family for 10 months.
Image Credits: Ovidiu Proca
Ever since she was a little girl, Ingrid liked to spend time outdoors. Sticks, cones and leaves were her treasures. In order to discover them, her parents would strap on their rucksacks and leave on expeditions: her mom escaping from her corporate life and her father away from the kitchen he worked in. They even had a special spot of their own, at Izvorul Muntelui.
For this reason, it felt weird when, last summer, Ingrid, who could walk for long distances, started complaining more and more of being tired. They didn’t go to the hospital at first, but after about 3 weeks of fatigue, Ingrid started to look pale and one day she ran a fever. Her parents thought it was heatstroke after a trip to the pool, but her pallor soon changed to a brownish color, which sent them running to the St. Mary Hospital in Iași, where they lived.
After the first tests, her hemoglobin came back at 3.3 g/dl. Iuliana didn’t know what that meant. To her, 3.3 was just a number. They told her the tests didn’t look well, as the lower limit for hemoglobin values was 11 g/dl. They got transferred to intensive care for a blood transfusion and there they were told she was suspected of having leukemia. They did a spinal tap and the second day, the 5th of August 2021, they found out the diagnosis: precursor B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The doctor told her there was a standard treatment in all of Europe for that type of disease, with the highest possible rate of recovery, but it was going to take time. But Iuliana was lost: “He tried to explain what that meant, but I didn’t get any of it. Someone was speaking and I could see their lips move, but I wasn’t hearing anything. It was very sad and I panicked. In that moment, you can’t find the clear-headedness to think about what to do, what treatment to… You just think… of the worst.”
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Ingrid is fine now. She’s enjoying the good food, walks outdoors and everything she missed during her 10 months in the hospital. She still goes to Timișoara every three months for chemo, but only temporarily, for a few days, and has to do citostatic treatment for another year. The treatment sometimes makes her feet swell and ache, but she keeps on running, even with a limp, just like any child her age. Iuliana wishes she could be there to tell her Happy Birthday every year, until she’s all grown up and healthy or until she’s too old and deaf to tell her anymore.
To find out more about Ingrid’s story and how Dăruiește Viață continues to create adequate treatment conditions for the little patients, so that more and more parents can say Happy Birthday to their children, you can access the link below:
You can help us change the Romanian healthcare system too, by going to daruiesteviata.ro
Author: Gabriela Teodora Vătafu
Translated from Romanian by Raluca Chifu