Sergei Loiko Has Had a Setback -- Please Help

UPDATE 6/12:

THANKS again for your generosity. Sergei is set to get his immunotherapy treatment.

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It's been two years since we all helped Sergei Loiko get the surgery, and then later the chemotherapy, he needed to treat his cancer. It was a grand success -- he went into what looked like remission. Tragically, though, doctors have found two areas of cancer in his lungs, and he is in urgent need of a new round of expensive immunotherapy to fight back.

You will remember that he has been an outspoken opponent of Putin and Russia's war in Ukraine and would face arrest if he tried to return to Moscow. In Kyiv, he is not eligible for government aid or insurance, and his only recourse is to pay for the treatment himself -- an impossible situation. If he can't afford the treatment, he told me, "I will give up."

He needs another $13,000, in addition to the $31,500 we raised a couple of years ago. I am sorry to have to once again ask for your help, but not sorry if it helps Sergei get every chance possible.

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ORIGINAL:

I think we all know Sergei Loiko, a colleague of ours in the Los Angeles Times Moscow bureau for three decades. Sergei worked closely with many of us correspondents; without his keen reporting skills, intense work ethic and great contacts, the work we did would not have been possible. Without his good humor, it would not have been fun. Sergei went on to become a correspondent himself. His stories and photographs of Russia and especially the war in Ukraine became some of the best examples of L.A. Times journalism during that era.

 

Now, I'm sad to report that he has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of kidney/bladder cancer that requires immediate and intense treatment. But he is living in Kiev now, and has no health insurance. All health care there is pay first, get treated after. The surgery he needs seems impossibly expensive. Even chemotherapy is outside his reach without help.

 

That's where we come in. I'm hoping that all of us for whom Sergei has been a friend and colleague over the years can step up to help. He needs about $20,000 to get through this, and while we may not be able to provide all of it, we can get him well started on the treatment he needs to save his life.

UPDATE: WE HAVE REACHED, THANKS TO YOUR AMAZINGLY GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS, OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL. THANK YOU TO ALL.

UPDATE 2: Sergei had his initial chemotherapy, but his doctors are now saying he very much needs the surgery. If he does the operation in Moscow, he is able to get 20 percent reimbursement from his insurance there. But that leaves $32,000 that he will have to pay for himself. He is $7,000 short.

UPDATE 3: Sergei has collected the funds he needs for his surgery. Hugely grateful to all those who came up with the extra money. He will keep you updated on his progress.

 

UPDATE 4: For those of you who generously contributed to Sergei’s medical care, I share the worrying news that no, he was not able to get the necessary surgery before it became as a practical matter impossible to travel to Moscow and such procedures at Ukraine’s beleaguered medical facilities became equally impossible. He is of course living in an entire country of people in fear of their lives.