As of today, Artyom Aliskerov has ambitious plans. On January 10, 2022, the athletics race on the Golden Ring of Russia will be launched. The race will be a dress rehearsal before the ultramarathon on the ice of Lake Baikal. The main goal is to draw attention to the problems facing bone marrow donation. In January 2019, the athlete was diagnosed with acute leukemia. Thanks to the doctors of the NMRC for Hematology, Artem was able to overcome the disease and learned to listen to his body.
"Many people who have been diagnosed with leukemia think that they will die in the first week. I've been through it too. To cope with the disease, the main thing is to listen to the doctor. The doctor is your everything. And of course, to fight for every day of your life," says Artem Aliskerov.
To cope with the disease, the main thing is to listen to the doctor. The doctor is your everything. And of course, to fight for every day of your life.
Before his illness, Artem worked for a charity foundation, helping children with cerebral palsy and autism. He was actively engaged in sports. He suspected that something was wrong while preparing for another sports competition. The decline of strength snowballed."My battery worked until three o'clock in the afternoon. In the pool, my hands would row but the legs wouldn’t. I realized that something was wrong on December 31. Preparing for the new year, my wife asked for me to open a jar. All of my attempts were unsuccessful," says Artem.
Under the chiming of the New Years bell, I made a wish. Now, looking back, he warns: "Be careful with your wishes: they tend to come true."
"I made three wishes: I want to finally move to Moscow, I want an office in the best place in Moscow, and I want to start blogging. At night I felt like I was suffocating. When I opened my eyes, I saw that the whole pillow was covered in blood," Artyom recalls with horror.
The picture had become more clear after the results of blood tests came in. With less than 20 thousand platelets, hospitalization and puncture was required. And like a butt on the head: leukemia. As Artem admits, after leaving the doctor's office, he could not hold back the tears."I didn't have these stages — acceptance, rejection. Having worked at the foundation, I knew how to react. The only thought in my head was, how do I tell mom? She eventually proved to be the strongest link. We looked at clinics in Israel and Germany, but I was told that there was a scientific center in Moscow where treatment is like it is abroad. On January 21, I moved to Moscow, to the best office, to the top clinic in the country. Now, I formulate all of my wishes as concretely as possible," Artem notes.
Instagram posts about sports were replaced by stories about life and the fight against leukemia. Artyom compared the treatment process with a trip to Narnia, and the creature that dared to get into his body with the Venom monster from an American movie based on Marvel Comics. During the treatment, 24 courses of chemotherapy were carried out.
"The patient's therapy is completely finished. It lasted for 2.5 years. For half a year it was the so-called induction and consolidation stage, that is, getting remission, and deepening it. Later, supportive therapy was carried out for two years. If we talk about prognoses, such patients recover completely in more than 70% of cases. As for the patient's physical activity, this is an unprecedented case. But it is necessary to take into account the fact that a person was physically developed before the illness and ran marathons. Of course, we do not recommend our patients to quickly enter sports regimes," said Olga A. Aleshina, head of the Observational Department of the NMRC for Hematology.
If we’re talking about prognoses, such patients recover completely in more than 70% of cases.
But Artem's way of life is to be constantly on the move. That is why, on the eleventh day after taking the last dose of chemotherapy and receiving discharge from the hospital, he set a world record for climbing Mount Elbrus."I realized that there are limits that a person cannot surpass. During the ascent of Elbrus, I met a guy who had one hundred meters left, but he could not climb to the top. Thanks to the doctors, I began to listen to my body. Now, everything is in moderation and strictly with the permission of the doctor," says Artem.
The conversation with Artyom took place opposite the department where he was being treated. Three months have passed since his discharge, but you need to be monitored for up to five years. To do this, a so-called sternal puncture is performed at a certain intervals of time. It is also called an aspiration biopsy of the bone marrow, a manipulation during which the liquid part of the bone marrow is taken and samples are sent to several laboratories.
"With the help of cytological examination, the doctor will look at the cellular composition of the sample. It is important that there is not a large number of tumor cells. Blast cells- progenitor cells are also normal in a healthy individual, but usually no more than 1.5—2%. If they are more than 5%, this indicates the return of the disease. Another sample will go to the immunophenotyping laboratory, where they will check for the presence of cells with a specific set of proteins on the surface of cells that were detected at the beginning of the disease. If they are not present, this indicates a complete remission of the disease," says hematologist Anton V. Luchkin.
After the procedure, we talked for another hour. Artem talked about preparing for marathons, about his training as an "equal consultant" — a person who has passed the path of treatment and is ready to share his unique experience and, of course, about the doctors of the NMRC for Hematology.
"I liked high level of technology, the efficiency and the responsibility of the NMRC for Hematology. Doctors keep so much information in their heads," Artem said surprised. "One time they changed my doctor and somehow the new doctor knew everything about me. This center trains fighters to resist a strong opponent like acute leukemia. I even wrote a post that collected a huge number of likes: "I was cured in Russia with Russian doctors, in a Russian clinic, and I'm proud of this!” You can help someone in need, but until a person wants to live, no high—tech medicine will help him," explains Artem.
This center trains fighters to resist a strong opponent like acute leukemia.
Today Artem dedicates all of his victories to those who struggle with blood diseases. By his example, he shows that life after oncology exists, and maybe it can be even better than before. While undergoing treatment, Artem saw an acute social problem associated with bone marrow donation. In Russia, about 5,000 people need hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The unified search database of bone marrow donors contains information about less than 100 thousand potential donors. For a successful search, the figure must be 5 times larger. Bone marrow donation is still something out of the ordinary."No matter who you ask, when someone hears the term bone marrow, they think that it is cut out of the back. Therefore, with my marathons I want to convey the main idea: bone marrow donation is not dangerous and not scary, and that by entering the register, you can save someone's life," in a voice full of confidence adds Artem.
I want to convey the main idea: bone marrow donation is not dangerous and not scary.
