“I’m 21. I want to live, work, laugh… But instead, I’m fighting cancer.”

My name is Petya. I’m only 21, yet I’m already fighting the toughest battle – against a cancer that occurs once in eight billion cases: Ewing’s sarcoma, in penultimate stage B.

It was diagnosed late because for a long time my doctors kept telling me that my pain was caused by a slipped disc, a worn-out joint, inflammation… For months on end I endured unbearable pain, a high temperature and swelling. They said I had an abscess and sent me for an operation in Pleven. There they discovered the truth – a malignant tumour. They took a biopsy and sent it to Germany, France, Sofia and Pleven. Everyone said the same thing…

Surgery is not an option. They told me straight out: “If we operate on you, you will either die on the operating table or be paralysed for life.”

I went through two months of hell – morphine, lidocaine, fentanyl, just to sleep, just to breathe. I am now being treated in Plovdiv – I am still undergoing chemotherapy, and the side effects of the radiotherapy are starting to subside. I am grateful that my body is fighting… but I no longer have the financial strength.

I receive 500 leva in sick pay as an administrative assistant at METRO. That isn’t enough for anything – neither for medication nor for travel to the hospital. I really want to work, but no one will take me on – because I walk slowly and limp, my right leg is completely numb and I can’t feel it. And people are looking for ‘dynamic employees’...

Please, if you can – lend me a hand. Help me continue my treatment. Every lev is hope. Every share is strength.

Donations can be made to:

IBAN: BG47STSA93001528103973

Account holder: Petya Todorova

Thank you for reading. Thank you for being there. I hope I can pull through.