Strong for Sasha

I want to share my story with you. My name is Oleksandra Korashvili, I am a professional tennis player and a student-athlete at the University of Oklahoma. This May, I completed my undergraduate studies and entered graduate school at the University of Oklahoma. During summer break, I came back home to Ukraine. During practices I would rapidly feel fatigued. My heart rate was unusually quick while my recovery time was extremely slow. At first I thought I had lost my physical conditioning given the fact we all were stuck at home during quarantine. After finishing one of the workouts, my heart rate did not drop below 120 beats for an hour. I thought this was related to the harsh weather conditions that day - it was very hot and humid. A week after that, on August 8th, I got sick. I had symptoms such as headaches, shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss (12lbs) and fever that could go up to 103 degrees.


After long examination and countless tests I was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome with Myelofibrosis. My doctor said that Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) is needed to cure these diseases. At the moment I am at the stage when I can immediately undergo BMT without remission chemotherapy. We need this amount of money in two weeks to start the BMT process.


Please anything helps, I long to fulfill my dream of becoming a professional tennis player one day. I would love to return to full recovery and show by example that a person is capable of anything! Outside of sport, I dream of one day starting my own family and make my loved ones happy every day. I am only 24 years old and I want to get back to continuing living my life in full swing.

*Approved by OU Compliance*