Skin
The first thing we see in burn injury reports is the percentage of body surface damage. We see figures as high as 75%, and in some cases even 90%. Now imagine that this is your body, which was familiar, comfortable, and understandable. And now this body becomes completely foreign – it hurts, you don't recognize it because it is badly disfigured. You need to learn to live with this new, different body, which doesn't meet the "norm and standards." Now imagine that you are a child or a teenager. You, still very young, have a enormous amount of work to do, a tremendous journey of accepting your new self, with all its scars and marks. This requires support, both professional and financial.
This is precisely the kind of support provided by the children's burn camps that the Children's Hospital Fund holds every year without exception. And we, Hilfeverein AdVita e.V., thanks to our donors, provide financial support to this program every year.
We've written about previous camps here and here. But this summer, another burn camp was held at the beautiful sight Myshkino Podvorye. Forty-five children, ages 9 to 17, participated in a variety of programs: from sports competitions and creative projects to psychological groups and individual talks.
Every effort was made to organize a safe and collaborative space where children who have experienced burn trauma, could understand, express and finally accept themselves. This helps not only develop their own boundaries but also respect those of others.
Here's one story: 13-year-old Yegor Grebeshkov suffered a burn injury four years ago with over 60% of his body surface damaged. What followed was a medically induced coma, intensive care, more than 10 surgeries, and a lengthy recovery. Yegor had a tracheostomy for a long time, which prevented him from speaking. Egor first went to the burn camp two years ago, and it wasn't easy for him to adapt to the inevitable rules of a shared space. But the support and acceptance of loving adults made all the difference—this year, camp wasn't a place of rules for Egor, but a place of self-realization. Egor immersed himself in the world of contemporary music—he learned the basics of music programs, tried his hand at synthesizers and samplers, created rhythms, and transformed his ideas into full-fledged musical tracks. As part of the music team, Egor participated in creating the camp's anthem—and it was an incredible success: by the end of the camp, the tune echoed from every corner.
This year, the camp tested and proved a huge success the "Clowning" project, designed to help teenagers embrace their differences, even their vulnerability and helplessness: after all, when you laugh, you're not afraid.
A special “Express yourself” program had the same goal: here, children became designers and tailors, creating unique garments from ordinary T-shirts and sailor shirts, fabrics, and ribbons. While using different tools, both of these programs taught the same thing: the courage to express yourself, to be different, to be special.
We will continue to support children's burn rehabilitation camps. You can help here.

If you happen to be near Mauer Park while walking around Berlin in summer, drop by Babel bookstore. In addition to good books from your favorite publishers in Russian, there is now a Hilfeverein AdVita donation box. Support the bookstore and put the change that  stretches your summer shorts in the box!

We are pleased to inform you that Katerina Gordeeva has won the 2024 ‘Profession — Journalist’ award and donated part of it to Hilfeverein AdVita. The award was established in 2016, and every year an independent jury rewards the best journalists who, despite everything, continue to do their job. Her article “Yashins: “When the regime ends, the term ends” won in the Interview/Portrait category. We sincerely thank Katerina for her support!

In 2024, one of the goals of the creation of Hilfeverein AdVita in 2018 became especially relevant, namely, support for patients of the AdVita Fund (St. Petersburg) and the Children's Hospital Fund (Moscow), primarily in raising funds in Europe in euros. Back then, it was convenient to avoid double conversions, but now in 2024 it has become technically impossible to make a transfer from Russia and pay the bill of a European clinic. We had several such stories in 2024.
For example, we pay an annual fee for the participation of the Raisa Gorbacheva Research Institute of Children's Oncology, Hematology and Transplantology in the World Bone Marrow Donor Association WMDA (Leiden, Netherlands). This global donor database has existed since 1988 and coordinates data collection around the world. Only participation in it allows to search for donors in the international registries.
There were also several personal stories. For example, the story of Nina Anisimova from Cheboksary. Back in 2020, Nina was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, she required constant blood transfusions, but in order to finally solve the problem, a council of doctors from the R.  Gorbacheva Institute recommended a bone marrow transplant. The donor was found in the Russian registry, but at the time of the transplant, Nina's donor was abroad, and the procedure for his examination and cell procurement was performed at the National Scientific Oncology Center of Kazakhstan. The transplant was successfully carried out in April 2023. Due to difficulties in international financial transactions through Russian banks, it was not possible to make the payment. In December 2024, Hilfeverein AdVita paid the invoice for 1,315.11 euros for a set of medical services for the procurement of hematopoietic stem cells from the donor's peripheral blood. Now Nina is recovering at her place of residence, spending a lot of time at home with her daughters.
Another story is a story of little Oksana Oles, she is 3 years old, she lives with her parents in Nizhnevartovsk. Her “Constitutional aplastic anemia” was discovered 1.5 months after birth, when the girl’s hemoglobin dropped to critical values, then there was resuscitation, a fight for life and, as a result, blood transfusions every 3 weeks.
Constant blood transfusions increased the level of iron in the child’s body, which is why Oksana needed a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible. In November 2023, a donor was found in the international Morsch registry in Germany. The family managed to raise 23,000 euros on their own to find and activate the donor. In March 2024, a bone marrow cell transplant was performed. A month later, the final bill from the Morsch registry arrived: due to additional costs for examinations, the bill increased. It is technically impossible to send money from Russia to the international registry in Germany due to the sanctions for the Russian banks. In early March 2025, Hilfeverein AdVita paid an additional bill in the amount of 1038.70 euros.
Now the child feels better, according to her mother, Oksana has grown a little, began to eat better. Her story can be seen here: https://www.advitaeu.com/stories
This is only part of the stories of the past 2024. To make all this possible, we need your donations. Please support us here: https://www.advitaeu.com/en/?form=donate .
Thanks to your support, many of our patients get a chance to recover and continue to live a happy life.

Dear friends,
New Year and Christmas are a wonderful opportunity to thank you for your incredible help and tell you about our joint work.This year, thanks to your support, we helped three patients with blood cancer.This is the most expensive part of our help - finding a compatible donor can cost up to 20,000 euros.
A large fundraising campaign is currently underway to help a patient with a brain tumour at the Berlin Charité Clinic.
We paid for the membership of the AdVita Fund and the Raisa Gorbacheva Research Institute of Oncology and Haematology in international cancer registries and associations. Without this, the international search for compatible donors for our patients could not continue.
Thanks to your help, a large, incredibly successful rehabilitation camp was held this year. Forty children and young adults - former patients of the of the Speransky Burn Center - took part in it.
Now, for obvious reasons, fundraising is not an easy task. In 2024, we received a new type of financial support. Thanks to Katerina Gordeeva's posts, people who moved to Europe and opened their small businesses there began to help us. Donating to Hilfeverein AdVita made these businesses more
famous and successful, and we received additional financial support. If you are interested, please look at the publications about this on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HilfevereinAdVita/ By the way, there you can also see announcements about lectures, poetry evenings
and other interesting events in aid to the AdVita Fund. You can take part in them.
Dear friends, we sincerely congratulate you with the upcoming holidays! We are very happy that together we can continue such important work. Without saying much - if some of our patients feels better, someone recovered or simply is alive - this is the result of your help.

Your team of Hilfeverein AdVita

A lot of small businesses have opened all over the world now, created by those who left Russia in 2014-2022 or a little later. These businesses have a hard time growing and developing, because their owners are forced at the same time to learn to live, work, and even just speak another language, in previously unfamiliar cities. At the very end of the summer, Katerina Gordeeva announced that she would advertise small businesses, those who left and are trying to get on their feet in a new place, if 25% of sales with the promo code GORDEEVA will go to our fund to help people who do not have the opportunity to receive medical care in their homeland. We would like to tell you about two projects supported by this initiative. They are “Mint_chocolate_studio” from Belgrade, whose creator Nastya Bystrova makes designer notebooks, and the natural cosmetics store and manufacturer “Botanic Garden” from Tallinn with its creator Nastya Markova.
Nastya Bystrova has an interesting business: she revives doors, or rather, she transfers really beautiful, old, wrinkled or simply very dear to someone’s heart doors to the cover of a notebook. And this notebook can be used, and your favourite door will always be before your eyes.
Nastya Bystrova says:
“The history of my workshop began five years ago in St. Petersburg. By that time, I had long admired the aesthetics of old doors, their texture and originality, and brought back photos of doors from different countries where I travelled. That’s when I came up with the idea of ​​making notebooks with a real wooden door on the cover, which would open into the owner’s inner world. I thought it was a very beautiful metaphor.
I am in Serbia now, and my collection includes more and more Serbian doors, but there are also doors from other countries. They have an address on them, so they are easy to find. This can be a reason to take a nice walk around a new or familiar city.”
All of Nastya Bystrova’s notebooks are hand-made and painted, eco-leather on the spine and high-quality thick eco-paper with botanical inclusions inside, which is ideal for both drawings and notes.
“I make notebooks based on real doors, and with my own ideas and designs. It’s a bit eclectic, but I like to come up with something of my own. Customers really do often ask to make a notebook based on a door that is important to them — sometimes it’s the door of their parents’ house, and recently, people who have emigrated have ordered several times the door of a house they left behind in Russia. For me, these are the most important and sensitive orders.”
The second project is natural cosmetics from Estonia. The creator of the Botanic Garden brand, Nastya Markova, recently opened a store (https://botanicgarden.eu/), where she sells self-made body care products. She believes that nature is the main source of inspiration. Botanic Garden cosmetics consist of natural ingredients—Estonian medicinal herbs, base and essential oils, natural wax, spices and other natural treasures. Nastya Markova was the first to turn to Katerina Gordeeva: thanks to her, many years ago, money was raised to for treatment of Nastya's son. This is how this joint idea was born. In a month, Botanic Garden has made more than a hundred orders, totalling more than 6,000 euros, which means that about 1,370 euros have been transferred to our fund.
This is how Nastya Markova writes about the first results: “I have a new favourite partner—Omniva, the Estonian post office. When sales took off, and going to the post office to send orders became completely impossible, I finally signed a corporate contract. Tariffs have gone down, now a nice courier comes to pick up parcels.
I invested some money in equipment—I have a new digital pipette that measures essential oils in tenths of a ml, I finally printed labels on reels (it's easy if the circulation is 10,000, but if it's 100, you beg the printing house), now I'll order a Chinese machine and use a semi-automatic machine to glue labels.
From personal point of view: “internal November” and thoughts about the impossibility of Russians to unite have retreated. Somehow this melancholy has passed. Maybe it is difficult to unite around politics for now, but it is possible to unite around business, charity, etc. If anyone needs advice, some life hacks for Estonia or just a walk and swim in the most beautiful swamp—please write!"
When your product is cool, you want to tell as many people as possible about it, and the target audience is not only about sales, but also about a community of people with similar tastes and values, one of which can be charity.
We are scattered across different countries, we have different currencies, languages ​​and tax consultants, but we can do projects together. If you have ideas, write to info@advitaeu.com for Tatyana Posova.

The main idea of ​​this year's summer camp was independence and freedom of choice. The team of the Children's Hospital Fund organizes burn camps twice a year, the last one was held from August 3 to August 11 at the Myshkino Podvorye tourist complex, where 40 children, teenagers and young adults from all over Russia gathered.
The new format of the event, namely voluntary participation and independent choice of activities, was unusual for some children at first, but with the help of supervision and discussion of the personal interests and desires, the children began to appreciate and accept it. And there was plenty of choice from three large blocks of activities—psychological, creativity and sports. There were separate musical, theatrical, journalistic projects and an incredible number of other events. The classes are conducted by adults with burn injuries, who have similar experiences to children, who can understand and support the children as no one else received a great response. It was important for the children to see this role model as an opportunity not to close in on themselves and to realize themselves despite the injury. So, this year, a long-time ward of the fund and long-time participant of the burn camp, Ira Orlova, came to conduct a master class on makeup for burns.
Ira studied makeup for scars for a long time, she understands all the intricacies, but admits that she prefers not to hide the burn with cosmetics, but to accentuate it with bright and unusual images. She talked about the basic principles of applying makeup when you have scars and then helped create images for the evening talent show. Ira also arranged a small meeting over tea, where she chatted with girls with burns. She told how she copes and what helps her, told about her experience of getting a job.
Rainy weather made adjustments to the work of the camp, some outdoor activities had to be moved indoors, but this only added to the feeling of intimacy.
The art cafe, which opened after dinner in the common room of the recreation center, and its special atmosphere were a great success: music playing in the background, garlands hanging, handmade tablecloths on the tables, vases with flowers and candles. The main idea was that children and counselors spend time together in a calm and pleasant atmosphere. Everyone could suggest their own activities or go to a master class, or play board games with everyone and chat. This was a calming and unifying event before going to bed. After the art cafe, it smoothly flowed into a common “evening candle activity”, where the children reflected on how their day went. At the end of the camp, the children said that this camp turned out to be very special. They appreciated the trust, respect and freedom that they felt. The children noted the special calmness and family atmosphere of the camp. Greater freedom compared to previous camps, the opportunity to walk or sit in an art cafe and chat - allowed us to build more trusting, deeper relationships with both the camp team and the participants, most of whom became friends.
Here is what the mother of Renata Stepanova, one of the participants, writes:
“My humble opinion about the camps that the Children's Hospital Fund tirelessly organizes: before the burn, my child had gone to many different camps, but such unity, such friendship and affection, such a need for communication, humor, common interests, topics for conversation, discussions of views on the world—this has never happened anywhere, only in the burn camp! Our children, thanks to such magical and carefully thought-out work, were able to become such friends. They were all from different cities, with different circumstances, but this did not interfere. There is something most important that they were able to find here. I believe that this is a huge merit of the foundation's employees and camp organizers. This is high-quality and incredible reliability. I do not trust my child to anyone as much as the Children's Hospital Fund. Our children are friends outside the camp—they meet, go to the cinema, visit each other, go for a walk, communicate in their chat. No matter how terrible the burns are, even in this horror it is possible to find an incredibly positive experience - every cloud has a silver lining. Part of the camp could not part - the children came to our home. And I am so happy for my daughter that they have such a great time together!”

A year has passed since Katerina Gordeeva turned to her subscribers on social media for help: she urgently needed to raise money for a surgical operation for Eva Saiko in Tübingen, Germany. And then many people responded to this call, and within 24 hours the missing amount was collected.
By that time, this was already the second fundraiser: Hifeverein AdVita paid for the first complex organ-preserving operation for Eva in May 2023, but life-threatening complications arose, and a second operation was immediately required, which meant an emergency fundraiser. We at Hilfeverein AdVita were in constant contact with the hospital in Tübingen and monitored the situation. To our common joy, the second operation was successful—Eva was saved.
Recently we talked with Yulia Saiko, Eva’s mother, about how things are going now:
“Everything is fine with us and Eva feels good. The yearly supporting chemotherapy ends in June. And that’s it, this is where the treatment ends. The rest of the time she’s here in the theater group and preparing for school (she won’t go to school yet this year). There were episodes, of course, with illness, but, in general, everything is fine, the body is coping and recovering.”

This is an amazing story: with the help of our donors, we managed to raise more than 136,000 euros. Thanks to this response, little Eva can, as her mother says, “run, jump and play with friends.”
And this is what Yulia Saiko asked us to tell you:
“Eva and I want to express our deep gratitude to everyone who participated in helping pay for our treatment! It was only thanks to such caring people that this trip and operation became a reality. Eva's kidney was saved and now she can enjoy a carefree childhood!
We wish everyone that your kindness will be returned to you a hundredfold.”

A winter camp for teenagers who need a rehabilitation after a burn injury took place in Kaluga Oblast from 14 to 18 March. Fifteen children, as well educators and psychologists from the Speransky Foundation in Moscow and a young team of counselors spend together four incredibly intense days: therapeutic theater plays and sessions with a coach, quests and walks, art therapy and career guidance and much more.
Here's what the participants themselves had to say.
Andrey: "It was wonderful! Cool activities, the best coaches, a cosy atmosphere, great gifts".
Yulia: "I've been waiting for this all year! I love going to camp. This joy starts with packing the suitcase and a long train journey. I feel comforthable and happy at this camp".
The camp for teenagers who experienced burn injury is a space where they feel among equals. As Misha, one of the participants, put it, "We are a troop".
The activities, such as a theatrical improvisation workshop, were designed to teach the children how to form a community and support each other. In the comedy format, the participants learnt how important it is to develop trust in the world and in themselves. This approach proved to be very successful. It was therefore decided to repeat the activity at the summer camp.
The children also enjoyed a quest after which all received hoodies as a gift.
For organizers, there is no greater joy than hearing directly from the children about their happy experience. This is what Dasha says: "After each visit to the camp, we get a huge "suitcase of memories" that will stay with us for a long time. Thank you so much for this opportunity to spend time together!"
The camp was made possible to a significant degree thanks to you, our donors. With your help, Hilfeverein AdVita was able to support this event. Thank you for your help!

It's been a very challenging year, but it's also been an incredibly generous year in terms of help from our supporters.
We were able to find and pay for compatible bone marrow donors for 5 people. For the patients, this is an opportunity to move on with their lives; this is the "dearest" part of our work in every sense.
This year we managed to organize treatment for five-year-old Eva in Germany. The girl was diagnosed with cancer of the (only) kidney, and without the help of our donors and volunteers, she would have had to live on dialysis all her life.
Regarding the burn program: this year, thanks to the support of our donors, three rehabilitation camps were held, the work of play therapists was paid for, and more medical materials were purchased than usual. Children will have fewer nasty burn scars - and more essential social skills.
We, together with the AdVita Foundation in St. Petersburg, and the Children's Hospital Fund in Moscow, are very grateful to all our donors for their incredible support. Doctors also join us.
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We wish everyone happiness and prosperity. May the coming year bring good news to us all.

On July 22, a children's camp for patients of the Children's Burn Center of Speransky Hospital started in the village of Grishkino, Tver Region. Children's burn camps and clubs developed by our specialists with the participation of the European Burn Association are necessary for the recovery and socialization of children who have suffered severe burn injuries. This year 40 children went to the camp. The work of the teacher, the organizer of the burn camp, was paid for from donations from our sponsors.

Thanks to a large donation of one of our sponsors, an expensive antiviral drug, Foskavir, was purchased for the Intensive Care Department of the Raisa Gorbacheva Clinic in St. Petersburg.

Foskavir is a resuscitation drug, one of those that are always required urgently when, after chemotherapy or bone marrow transplantation, a viral infection that is not sensitive to other drugs registered in Russia (acyclovir, ganciclovir) develops rapidly. The availability of the drug in the clinic determines whether doctors can cope with the complications.

We really appreciate the help in purchasing this medicine!

We thank our faithful supporter Ms. Judith Hinze for another generous donation to the burn program. With this money we will pay for several months of work of a social pedagogue. Thanks to the support of Mrs. Hinze, a summer burn camp for 40 former patients of the Speransky Burn Center will be organized in Tver Region this July. We will keep you informed.

Our director Mikhail Kazbekov has visited Moscow on behalf of our aid program to the Speransky Children's Burn Center. Burns always happen unexpectedly, causing pain and fear, especially because they are often connected to the loss of relatives or appearance changes. Therefore the participation of psychologists and play specialists is vital for children's rehabilitation in addition to medical care.
Thank to your help and especially to the help of Dr. Judith Hinze, the work of a specially educated play therapist in the Burns Unit will continue. Children, who are discharged from the hospital will also be able to go to the Summer Burns Camp.

Thank you for your valuable support!

Right after the launch of our website we started to receive various donations, including recurrent contributions to our cancer program. Thank you very much for your trust and help! Our special thanks goes to Dr. Judith Hinze, who has already supported our burns program more than once. Her extremely generous donation will enable several months of work for a social pedagogue of the Speransky Children's Hospital Fund both in the Burns Unit of Speransky Hospital and in camps and clubs for discharged children. We want to congratulate and thank all our new friends and helpers! Your donations will be reflected in our financial report.