Diana: to break the vicious circle

"Besides my milk, there is nothing else I can feed the baby, but my milk alone is not enough for her," Diana's mother Oksana says. The eight-month-old Diana weighs only 6.5 kilos (14.3 lbs). Cystic fibrosis, a severe genetic illness, damages the digestive tract, and without a special high-calorie formula, the baby simply cannot get enough nutrition. And any upper respiratory infection quickly turns into pneumonia, because with such a low weight, the child simply doesn't have enough strength to fight off the infection. But the special high-calorie formula costs more than both parents earn...

Diana's parents have been looking forward to her being born for many years. The first baby they had was premature and wasn't able to survive. Three years later, their little son Maxim became their parents' first joy. They very much wanted to also have a daughter, but they had to wait another five long years until she was born. When little Diana was born, her parents were so happy--finally! And then, just a day after she was born, Diana ended up in intensive care. An emergency surgery, a long recovery, another surgery...Little Diana was born with cystic fibrosis, with its most severe symptoms in the digestive tract--she was not absorbing food at all.

Now, each feeding has to be accompanied by taking special enzyme tablets, Kreon, which help nutrients to be absorbed. These enzyme tablets are given to patients with cystic fibrosis free, by the government. But that alone is not enough for young children. For the child with this form of cystic fibrosis to grow and thrive, they need special high-calorie formula and special vitamins, in addition to regular food. Otherwise, the child cannot gain weight and every upper respiratory infection burns up whatever little weight the child managed to gain, and then turns into pneumonia because the small body doesn't have enough strength to fight off the infection...

We can break this vicious cycle by "getting on the scale" along with Diana. If we provide her with the nutrition she needs, she'll be able to grow and thrive.

Please help us pay for a 5-month supply of high-calorie formula for Diana--that is the amount of time we have for her to get stronger before the next "cold and cough season", we have to start now. We also plan to pay for those of her daily medications which the government aid does not cover. For Diana to survive, all these things are essential.

Name: Vasylkina Diana, 02.09.2016

City: Plahtiivka village, Odessa region

Diagnosis: cystic fibrosis, pulmonary-intestinal form