Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990 TAG: 9003232552
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Olga Urakova's "tumor," as diagnosed by Soviet doctors, turned out to be a severe inflammation.
Until the correct diagnosis was made, the child had been suffering the effects of strong anti-cancer agents. Her hair began falling out and she was having intestinal problems. Because the chemotherapy was not halting the growth of the "tumor," other measures were being planned, such as removal of part of her jaw, removal of some lymph nodes and possibly courses of radiation treatment.
The MCV physician is Dr. Harold M. Maurer, chairman of the pediatrics department and a widely recognized authority on the treatment of a rare malignant muscle tumor called rhabdomyosarcoma.
Olga's story, as reconstructed by an English translation of the article in the Soviet newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda and interviews with some of those involved, began with the extraction of a tooth. Then, a "tiny little bump" appeared on her gum that, according to the newspaper, "suddenly grew to an evil size."
A physician at the Soviet All Union Oncological Center, the paper said, diagnosed the growth as a rhabdomyosarcoma of the lower jaw, and "at the present level of our oncology, this is almost a death sentence." She was started on a course of chemotherapy.
But Olga's father, Vladimir Urakov, an engineer, wondered if more could be done to save his daughter than the Soviet physicians knew. His friends included some radio hams - hobbyists who communicate with other hams around the world.
One of those men was Vladimir Umanets of Chelyabinsk, who was contacted by a ham friend of Olga's father, Valery Shevtsov. Umanets within the year had met an American radio ham, Eugene Walsh of Edison, N.J., who visited Leningrad.
Umanets contacted Walsh in New Jersey and presented Olga's plight to him.
The next day, she said she made a couple of phone calls and learned of Maurer. She called his office and told Olga's story.
Maurer asked that Olga's records be sent by facsimile to him. The request was relayed back by Walsh to Umanets to Shevtosov to Olga's father.
He was not convinced, on the basis of those records, that Olga had rhabdomyosarcoma, Maurer said Tuesday. And the chemotherapy prescribed for her "was not really the best," he said.
He requested, via the radio ham grapevine, a tissue sample.
And again, the American missile inspection team helped out by arranging for the delivery of the sample to Maurer.
The analysis at MCV by Dr. Saul Kay, a pathologist, showed what Maurer had suspected - that Olga did not really have rhabdomyosarcoma.
The growth was caused by chronic inflammation, later confirmed by Soviet pathologists.
The treatment was essentially scraping inflammed tissue from the site of the tooth extraction.
Olga, whose hair is growing back and who's healthy once again, is learning English and writing notes to her, Mrs. Walsh said.
by CNB