Dasha wants to breathe

Olga and Roman fight for every breath and for every moment of life of their own daughter. Young, cheerful Dasha, with a radiant smile and mischievous look in her eyes is her mom and dad's pride and joy. Their little daughter is their greatest happiness and greatest pain. Pain, because Dasha has cystic fibrosis. For the child with this disease to survive, s/he has to take medication every day and every three months to be admitted to the hospital for testing and treatment. In December, Dasha is due for her next hospital admission. 

"Five years ago, we had our long-awaited baby, little Dasha. But by the time she was one month old, our fairy tale had already ended: Dasha became seriously ill with obstructive bronchitis, she was admitted to the hospital and our life turned into a nightmare. We returned home when she was six month old, after multiple IV drips, shots, and tests, and finally a diagnosis of cystic fibrosis, accompanied with severe pancreatic insufficiency. After that, every three months, Dasha has to be admitted for testing and treatment to our regional hospital. Dasha has a strict everyday schedule, which includes nebulizers, chest physiotherapy, and exercises on a ladder and on a trampoline". - Dasha's mother Olga says.

"Despite all that, our little Dasha is a radiant and cheerful child; her optimism and zest for life are seemingly endless. She is the generator of ideas and events in our family. Dasha can't sit still for a moment; every day she demands new places to go and things to do, and she's not interested in the "girly" things at all! Dolls, doll carriages, little handbags--she doesn't care for any of these things. On the other hand, disassembling a computer's hard drive with her dad, or to figure out how an electric lamp or an electric fan works--those are the things she loves. Our little daughter becomes the center of attention in any group; her laughter is always heard wherever she is. She very much loves to draw, and to make different crafts, paper and otherwise.

Despite her young age, she already understands her situation. Before the holidays, I helped Dasha write a letter to Santa Claus, and the first thing she asked for in the letter was her health. When I pick up the results of her labwork, she peeks at them and asks, "Well, mom, I hope some of the results are not bad?" Last time when they were inserting her IV catheter, she cried and wailed that she wants to be like any other child, that she is already tired of IVs and shots".

Her family fights for every breath and every moment of life of their only daughter. Please, help Dasha's parents extend their happiness as long as possible.

Name: Daria R. Mochernyuk, born 29.07.2010

Location: Zaporizhzhia

Diagnosis: cystic fibrosis with pancreatic insufficiency, severe course. Chronic suppurative and endobronchitis