Medical Help for Vanda Bognar and Ferenc Csirkes
Donation protected
Our dear friends Vanda Bognar and her husband Ferenc Csirkes are in desperate need of our help. Vanda has advanced liver disease and currently needs to have regular surgical procedures to keep her liver functioning until she is able to receive a liver transplant at some point in the future. This will amount to costs of 120,000 Turkish lira (approx. 9,000 dollars) every 2-3 months until she has a transplant, which of course will entail a cost many times that of this relatively minor procedure.
Ferenc Csirkes and Vanda Bognar have medical insurance coverage in Turkey where they live, yet this insurance will not cover the costs of Vanda’s care because the insurance company has deemed her disease a pre-existing condition.
Since early December 2021, Vanda Bognar had been in a state hospital in Istanbul where she was being treated. During this time, she underwent two endoscopies and one laparoscopy (all of which failed), and her condition deteriorated considerably. She was mistakenly given penicillin despite her penicillin allergy, which she had notified the hospital about prior to the procedure. She also contracted Klebsiella, a bacterium that attacks the lungs of patients that have been weakened by weeks of staying in hospital. She lost 10 kgs of her weight during her stay there because of malnutrition.
We are raising funds now to allow Vanda to receive treatment from Koç University Hospital in Istanbul, where she will receive the level of care she needs. She has already undergone a small procedure at Koç University Hospital with the funds that have been collected, which included an endoscopy, colonoscopy and ercp (putting a stent in the bile duct through endoscopy). This one hour procedure that stabilized her condition cost 120,000 Turkish lira (approx. 9,000 dollars).
Following the stent procedure, Vanda has now met with the surgeon regarding her prognosis and plan of care. The good news is that she doesn't need another major procedure right away. The bad news is that she will eventually need a liver transplant. Exactly when that will become necessary is unknown. Until that time, although the stent is keeping her condition stable, the stent needs to be replaced every 2-3 months. That means she will have to have an approximately 9,000 dollar procedure every 2-3 months indefinitely until her condition deteriorates to the point that she has to have a transplant. As you can imagine this is a huge financial burden, so we will continue to gather funds to support them.
Please continue to circulate this campaign to people you know who would want to support Vanda and Ferenc. We are still asking friends for the time being NOT to share publicly on social media but please feel free to send the link of the fundraising page privately to contacts of yours.
Your donations can be anonymous and can be made with a credit or debit card. We will send all of these donations via wire transfer to Ferenc. If you prefer to make a donation directly to the bank account of Vanda and Ferenc, please get in touch and we will pass their account information on to you.
Because GoFundMe does not permit withdrawals into Turkish bank accounts, we will withdraw the money into Andrea Brown's bank account and send the funds via wire transfer to Ferenc and Vanda's account in Turkey.
Sincerely,
Friends of Vanda and Ferenc (organized by Christopher Markiewicz and Andrea Brown)
For any questions or to donate directly please contact Christopher Markiewicz (via email or contact button at bottom of page)
Ferenc Csirkes and Vanda Bognar have medical insurance coverage in Turkey where they live, yet this insurance will not cover the costs of Vanda’s care because the insurance company has deemed her disease a pre-existing condition.
Since early December 2021, Vanda Bognar had been in a state hospital in Istanbul where she was being treated. During this time, she underwent two endoscopies and one laparoscopy (all of which failed), and her condition deteriorated considerably. She was mistakenly given penicillin despite her penicillin allergy, which she had notified the hospital about prior to the procedure. She also contracted Klebsiella, a bacterium that attacks the lungs of patients that have been weakened by weeks of staying in hospital. She lost 10 kgs of her weight during her stay there because of malnutrition.
We are raising funds now to allow Vanda to receive treatment from Koç University Hospital in Istanbul, where she will receive the level of care she needs. She has already undergone a small procedure at Koç University Hospital with the funds that have been collected, which included an endoscopy, colonoscopy and ercp (putting a stent in the bile duct through endoscopy). This one hour procedure that stabilized her condition cost 120,000 Turkish lira (approx. 9,000 dollars).
Following the stent procedure, Vanda has now met with the surgeon regarding her prognosis and plan of care. The good news is that she doesn't need another major procedure right away. The bad news is that she will eventually need a liver transplant. Exactly when that will become necessary is unknown. Until that time, although the stent is keeping her condition stable, the stent needs to be replaced every 2-3 months. That means she will have to have an approximately 9,000 dollar procedure every 2-3 months indefinitely until her condition deteriorates to the point that she has to have a transplant. As you can imagine this is a huge financial burden, so we will continue to gather funds to support them.
Please continue to circulate this campaign to people you know who would want to support Vanda and Ferenc. We are still asking friends for the time being NOT to share publicly on social media but please feel free to send the link of the fundraising page privately to contacts of yours.
Your donations can be anonymous and can be made with a credit or debit card. We will send all of these donations via wire transfer to Ferenc. If you prefer to make a donation directly to the bank account of Vanda and Ferenc, please get in touch and we will pass their account information on to you.
Because GoFundMe does not permit withdrawals into Turkish bank accounts, we will withdraw the money into Andrea Brown's bank account and send the funds via wire transfer to Ferenc and Vanda's account in Turkey.
Sincerely,
Friends of Vanda and Ferenc (organized by Christopher Markiewicz and Andrea Brown)
For any questions or to donate directly please contact Christopher Markiewicz (via email or contact button at bottom of page)
Organizer and beneficiary
Christopher Markiewicz
Organizer
New Canaan, CT
Andrea Brown
Beneficiary