Help these two sisters fight for their lives

"We really need your help", Julia, the girls' mother, writes in her email to us. For the last 15 years, the most important thing in her life has been fighting for her two daughters. Sisters Lera and Sasha were born with a serious genetic disorder. To keep this disease in check and not to let it destroy one's body, one needs a great deal of effort, work, and money. Some of the medically necessary things are paid for by the government medical programs, some of them Julia pays for, but it is impossible to afford everything without the help of caring people. When one child is seriously ill, it is a difficult situation; when both children are seriously ill, the situation is twice as difficult. Please help us support this family. 

We've known each other for about 6 years by now. During this time, the girls have grown up quite a bit. Lera, who was just a little girl when we first met, has turned into a 15-year-old beauty. If you looked at her, you wouldn't know she was ill, except for the fact that she's very thin. But actually, this year, she's been having frequent exacerbations--every two months, which means that she's been having to take antibiotics frequently. The younger sister, Sasha, was a preschooler when we first met, and now, she is almost a teen. Sasha is already 10 years old. She is attending 5th grade and had to switch to homeschooling because of the increasingly frequent exacerbations because the most important thing is to keep her healthy.

Cystic fibrosis, which results from a mutation of the DNA, the illness both girls have, is considered incurable at present. Cystic fibrosis interferes with the function of all of the body's systems and leads to gradual deterioration. The current treatment regimen allows the patient to live for many years in spite of all that. However, for that to happen, the patient needs to have all the necessary medical equipment, medications, nutritional supplements, vitamins, and to do the physical therapy exercises daily and thoroughly. Much of this is the patient's own responsibility. But all of us can help them buy all the above-mentioned necessities. It is only by coming together that we can save lives.

Name: Koltunova Olexandra, 12.06.2009,
Koltunova Valeria, 17.01.2004

City: Sumy

Diagnosis: cystic fibrosis with pancreatic insufficiency, lung damage, chronic obstructive bronchitis