A girl with cerebral palsy dreams of becoming an actress

The girl on the photo is called with the beautiful name Melania. She is 13 years old. She speaks fluently English and German, independently learns French, Polish, Belarusian. She is interested in art and music. Melania loves to learn. She is a favorite among teachers and classmates. She dreams of becoming an actress, so she goes to the theater club and vocals at the school. But the obstacle to the dream was the diagnosis – cerebral palsy.

The diagnosis of the girl was set at 1 year old. Since then, the family has tried various methods of treatment. The obvious result appeared only at the age of 3 when the child first came to the clinic of Professor Kozyavkin. Since then, every 6 months Melania undergoes treatment in Truskavets. Earlier, when the family lived in Makiivka, Donetsk region, it was easier to pay for rehabilitation. But in 2014 the war began. Mom shares bitter memories: "We thought it wasn’t for a long time, it seemed we were sleeping and seeing a terrible dream, so it wasn’t all real, somewhere there was a bach, somewhere it was shot… When in October 2015, the army drove up to our gates and started shooting towards the airport, while we lived in the city center, it became clear that we could not stay here anymore. We left. At home, we have never been since then. Now we live in a small mining town of Myrnograd, Donetsk region".

Stress, deprivation and constant worries about the future and about the beloved daughter undermined the health of the head of the family. At the end of last year, he urgently underwent a complicated and expensive open-heart surgery, now he has a second-degree disability and is temporarily not working. Mom can't go to work because of Melanie's disease. But the treatment in the clinic cannot be missed, because the girl is now growing rapidly, each missed course can adversely affect her health. But now the family has no opportunity to pay for the treatment. Mom appeals for help to all not indifferent people: "I know that people of Ukraine are kind and care about other people's sorrow and Melania’s desire to become a healthy person will surely be achieved. Cerebral palsy is not a sentence! So says my child and I believe her!".

Name: Levykina Melaniia, 20.11.2005

City: Myrnograd, Donetsk region

Diagnosis: cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia