To breathe and live. Cost of freedom. 2

"It'll soon be a year that I haven’t left my room, for behind its doors there's this sickening feeling of shortness of breath. And I'm just 21 and eager to live. I was stable till 17 years of age – I went to school, attended many sports sections. Ever since I'd been diagnosed with a genetic disease of cystic fibrosis at 5 years of age I've been adhering to a strict daily schedule – a bunch of pills, inhalations, breathing exercises, antibiotics… This has helped me to keep on for quite a while." Igor is an adult, he's already 21 and he doesn't need mediators to speak on his behalf no longer, he communicates with his doctors and various foundations on his own. 

"In December of 2014 my state has gotten considerably worse, and I could hardly leave my room within the last year without my oxygen machine. It became impossible for me to be able to walk down the steps from the 5th floor and get back to my apartment using just my own lungs," Igor shares his misfortune. "And can you realize what it's like – not to be able to go outside when you're just 21?".

The oxygen machine that Igor currently has operates only from AC, no batteries, and this means that the boy can breathe freely only when he's within confines of his apartment. So he can never leave it because of unbearable shortness of breath waiting for him immediately behind the doors.

"A year and a half ago, even though I've already been using the oxygen concentrator, I still could master my strength and venture for a walk once or twice a week, whereas now I only leave the apartment in case of a dire need, say, when I have to undergo medical tests or be admitted to the in-patient ward. It is extremely difficult to go down from the 5th floor with no elevator and oxygen, let alone try to get back on the 5th floor… I have to call for a mobile ICU equipped with an oxygen supply to bring me from home to the hospital and back. Otherwise, what can I do – just stay here and try to pull it through…".

As of today, Igor's disease is considered incurable and his state is gradually getting worse. However, it is possible to keep on living even in a state like this. What can really help the boy is a portable oxygen unit – its batteries will give him the possibility to leave his apartment freely, walk outside, plan some meetings, business in the city and not to suffer at home when he feels bad and has to go to the hospital. It might feel eery for a healthy person to have to use special equipment to be able to breathe, but for Igor, it is a chance to live, a chance to freedom.

Earlier at UBB, we already collected funds for Igor. View the previous project you can by the link. The previous portable oxygen apparatus, which the Operator of Help purchased with funds raised at the UBB, has failed and is no longer usable. Therefore, the guy now uses a stationary, and the fund is making efforts to purchase a new portable device.

Name: Igor Bezus, 10.04.1997

City: Ivano-Frankivsk

Diagnosis: cystic fibrosis with pancreatic insufficiency