Help Thumbelina become a regular girl. 2

Іs it possible for a child to... never grow up? That seems absurd. But it is the actual reality for little Alina. When Valeria was taking her adopted daughter home, she did not yet know about her medical diagnoses--she only wanted to give her the gift of family and of mother's love. But, as it turned out, Valeria was rescuing little Alina not only from her past as an orphan, but from disability in the future.

The only thing is the magic medications which can help little Alina to grow, cost more than her mother and father can pay because they have another seriously ill family member.

At the same time, Valeria is paying for her mother's treatment, trying to keep her from giving in to cancer as long as possible, and worries about her daughter, who has long ago become an equally close family member to her. Little Alina has dwarfism--a congenital genetic disorder, in which the body is unable to grow on its own--special medications are needed. Some of these medications are paid for by the government healthcare system, but the hormonal medication Diferilin has to be bought by the patients' family. One month of Alina's growth cost slightly more than 1,500 Hryvnias. Such a sum could be earned. But Alina's grandmother, Valeria's mother, fell ill with cancer over a year ago. Her treatment is still ongoing, and all of the family's savings went to pay for the treatment; in fact, they've had to go into debt. Besides, both grandmother and granddaughter need regular doctor's visits and lab work, which also cost quite a bit of money. A regular family simply cannot pay for all these expenses without help.

We have helped this family before when we bought them six months' worth of medicines, and these six months have flown by, and so it's time to pay the next bill from the pharmacy. Alina's checkups show that everything is going according to plan, she is growing, little by little, which means the medications are effective and she should continue taking them. An important aspect of this treatment is that it does not allow for stopping the medications, the hormone preparations work best when taken regularly and as prescribed. That means that we cannot wait, we must help this family promptly!

Name: Gutkina Alina, 05.02.2003

City: Borova town, Kiev region

Diagnosis: genetic nanism, Russell Silver Syndrome