A loving mother who campaigned for any form of cancer treatment to keep her teenage son alive over the last four years has tragically suffered a brain haemorrhage.
Nadia Vavro is currently in the intensive care unit of Dublin's Beaumont Hospital where she has spent the last three weeks.
The mother of three has been anxiously searching and exploring all options to keep her 17-year-old son Slav alive after he was diagnosed with a very rare type of stage four Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma in 2018.
The cancer lay undetected in the arch of his foot until it spread into his spine and bone marrow. After gruelling chemotherapy, the family was told that any further treatment would be palliative and not curative.
However, Nadia refused to give up and after much research, she fundraised to bring Slav for various treatments abroad, including the US and Vienna as well as buying him an oxygen tank.
However, Slav suffered a relapse in 2020 and in recent months got the devastating news that the cancer had once again spread, leading Nadia to again search frantically for another solution.
The family began appealing for help in funding a new treatment of umbilical cord blood cytokine induced killer (NK) cells which Slav has started.
In asking for help to raise the €168,000 needed for the treatment, she said: "The last thing I want to do is keep asking for help but I have no choice. Please, my boy needs your help again. I cannot stop. He has options and there is hope to save him."
As Slav began the new treatment, Nadia felt unwell and was rushed to hospital after suffering a brain haemorrhage.
Her husband Vlad said that their son is concerned and worried for his mam as are her other son, Vlad, and daughter, Michaela.
"Most of her time was spent by Nadia in taking care of Slav and fundraising. Nobody can say at the moment if Nadia will suffer from any permanent damage.
"She communicates but struggles to find proper words and finds it hard to use her phone at present but she is making a recovery in the right direction and that's what matters.
"Slav continues to have rounds of the NK cells therapy as well as chemotherapy and tests and while things are even tougher for us at present, we would like to thank so many people who have continued to fundraise and support us in every way."
Anyone who would like to donate to the fund can do so at Saving Slav Go Fundme Page
