We are running so that Yura lives! Interpipe Communications Team

Lyudmila Novak - Head of Communications at Interpipe; Liya Nazarenko is a project manager at Interpipe Dnipro Half Marathon.
Already the fifth half marathon in the Dnieper will be held by Interpipe in 2020. During this time, the Run Interpipe community was created, the company employees have their own trainers. And we, the creators and leaders of the project, also gradually got infected with the running bacillus! At the Run Ukraine Spring Fundraising Marathon, we are not just striving to improve our results. We want to make “invisible” children visible. Yura Petrenko does not have oncology or cerebral palsy. He looks like a healthy boy, but for him to live, he needs medicines for tens of thousands of hryvnias every month. 

Lyudmila Novak: “My running experience is small, only 2 years. And I will be participating for the first time in a fundraising marathon. But I agreed right away. Because I understand well: the attention of philanthropists is focused on children with oncology, cerebral palsy, and those who need urgent surgeries. But there are no less complicated cases: congenital chronic incurable diseases. If there is medicine, there is hope to live tomorrow. No medicine - and your future is in jeopardy.
Yura Petrenko has two such diseases at once. First congenital: immunodeficiency. If Jura stops taking immunoglobulins, any infection will kill him. The second is a consequence of the first: ulcerative colitis (ULC). Stomach pain, strict diet, constant intake of special nutrition and drugs, a lot of serious and painful examinations. For the treatment of UC alone, UAH 26,000 is needed monthly”.

Leah Nazarenko: “When Yura’s mother told us that she was diagnosed with immunodeficiency, she hastened to add: don’t be afraid, it’s not contagious, it’s not connected with HIV! It immediately became clear what kind of prejudices mother and Yura constantly had to face. He is a wonderful boy with long eyelashes, cheerful and lively, very interested in our gifts. It is painful to hear that he had problems at school with children (apparently, many are afraid that Yura can be infected). In fact, his illness only puts himself at risk of infections, not those around him. It is painful to hear despair in the mother’s voice: she is very tired of the constant search for funds for treatment and special nutrition. We decided to set ourselves the goal of collecting UAH 26,000 for drugs and special food for Yura, so that at least one month the boy would be provided with everything, and his mother would breathe freely. That is why we will run our distances at Run Ukraine. Let's support Yura together!”.