A month ago, the father of an 18-year old girl called me to ask for help. I was in Hanover, accompanying another patient with a cyst on the spine. I told him that when I get back I’ll help as I can. Now it is time to keep my word.
Alexandra Cilianu is 18 years old, and she is from Caracal, Romania. While most of her peers are concerned with the prom party and applying to college, Alexandra is praying for a miracle to save her. A disease that cannot be treated in Romania threatens to confine her to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
One and a half years ago, Alexandra began to complain of back pain. “This lasted for about three weeks. Then her foot sole started burning, and that was when we got worried, “says the girl’s father, Paul Cilianu.
In March 2008 they went to a hospital, in Craiova, Romania. Following investigations, the doctor discovered a cyst on the spine, which he operated immediately. After less than one month from the surgery, the pain returned. “She did an MRI, and we found that the doctor did not remove the cyst. It still was there,” says Paul Cilianu. “When I confronted the doctor, he said he only did a depressurization.”
In the autumn of 2008, because the pain became increasingly intense, Alexandra and her parents went to Bucharest (the capital city of Romania). “We went to a lot of doctors. Eventually we found a surgeon who operated on her. Once in January, and then in May this year,” recalls her father.
After each surgery, Alexandra’s pain decreased, but within weeks, it came back, more violently. MRI showed that more of her vertebrae were filled with cysts. “Now she has many cysts. Some are bigger, some smaller. And they threaten to leave her paralyzed, “says Paul Cilianu.
Alexandra’s only chance is now to go to a clinic in Germany for surgery; this clinic, unlike the Romanian clinics, has the necessary technology and specialists to treat her condition. However, surgery and hospitalization cost about 50,000 Euro. Because her family could not raise this sum, she has already lost three appointments for the surgery. Now she made a fourth appointment (actually, the doctors agreed to accept her as an emergency case, as soon as she will have all the money), but she is not sure if she can make it, because she only raised 5, 000 Euro.
If you want to help Alexandra not to get in a wheelchair, please make a donation, no matter how small, into one of the accounts opened with the BRD bank:
Bank name: BRD;
Branch name: BRD Caracal; Branch address: Str. Piata Victoriei Nr.13, Caracal, Romania
Account holder: Paul Cilianu
Account holder’s address: Str. Tepes Voda Nr.4, Caracal, jud. Olt, Romania
Account number: RO89BRDE290SV19212012900
SWIFT code: BRDE ROBU
You also can help Alexandra by sending an amount through Western Union. Alexandra’s medical documents and appointments are provided below; you can click on them to see them.
For more details, you can e-mail Alexandra at the address: ionutzcilianu89@yahoo.com
MEDICAL DOCUMENTS, APPOINTMENTS
Conversation with Prof. Fahlbusch
ALEXANDRA IN THE MEDIA
