Chernobyl Disaster Hero Listed in Critical Condition

A Soviet pilot who was a hero of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster was in critical condition Saturday with a lung infection, according to officials at the hospital where he recently underwent a bone-marrow transplant for leukemia.

Anatoly Grishchenko, 53, who had been in stable condition after the April 27 transplant, developed a fever and breathing difficulties late last Thursday, and doctors at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center placed him on a respirator early Friday, center spokeswoman Susan Edmonds said.

There had been “no major changes either way” in Grishchenko’s condition overnight, Edmonds said Saturday morning, “but he really has shown no improvement.”

His doctors “say it doesn’t look good,” she added.

Grishchenko’s leukemia was detected late last year. He made four flights in five days through hot radioactive gases to dump sand and wet concrete on the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

The plant, about 80 miles north of Kiev in the Soviet republic of the Ukraine, exploded and burned April 26, 1986. At least 31 people died in the disaster.

He underwent the transplant in hopes that healthy marrow could restore normal blood-cell production.

The problem is a hard-to-treat lung infection he had before coming to the Hutchinson Center, Edmonds said. Doctors had tried to eliminate it with antibiotics, but the infection continued in his right lung.

After waiting until the transplant appeared successful, doctors last Tuesday performed exploratory lung surgery to identify and remove the source of the infection.

The surgery appeared to go well, but Grishchenko’s condition began deteriorating, Edmonds said.

It was not known if his worsening condition was related to the surgery, she said, adding that he will continue to receive antibiotics.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev praised Grishchenko in a recent letter as a national hero. The letter was delivered while Gorbachev was touring Minnesota and California earlier this month after the summit meeting in Washington, D.C.

Grishchenko arrived in Seattle from the Soviet Union on April 11.