Illiusha prays for his healthy legs. Stage 3

Ilya is a first and a long-awaited child in our family. Born preterm, he was able to prove that cerebral palsy diagnosis is not a verdict. Due to the treatment – both medical and physical exercises, he is now able to walk up to ten meters holding a hand, he can squat about 10-30 times, do 5-8 push-ups, pump the press – he wants to be a real athlete. In the autumn of this year he has to go to school and we understand that he can only be taught to walk on his own in the rehabilitation courses in the International clinic of rehabilitative treatment in Truskavets, which do not have funds for.

Ilya, our son, is the most precious and beloved in our life, and it is so difficult to realize that you cannot help your child to heal. However, we believe that everything will change soon and he will be well! - tells Illia's mother.

After Ilya's birth nobody told us that he has problems with his health. During a year we attended a neurologist because our son was born premature, but we were not told at he has a retardation. When he was a year and two months old, they announced a diagnosis – cerebral palsy, spastic diplegy of lower limbs, delayed mental and speech development. I can't describe our state of mind and all these constant questions to yourself: why him, why us, what do we do about it.

There was the only way – to start a medical treatment of our son to help him stand on his own feet. Everything was difficult, but small steps towards a big goal are better than standing still. And we started from the smallest things like holding a toy, a spoon, a cup. Due to the constant exercises we soon started seeing first results of our work: Ilya started to sit and crawl. And when he turned three he started talking. Now due to the regular rehabilitations and swimming, we have good results: Ilya can walk up to ten meters, holding a hand, he can squat, do push-ups, pump the press. These may be elementary things for someone, but for us it is a great result, which we struggled for during these four years. Ilya attends a kindergarten, where he communicates with other children.

It so good to hear when he tells us about his day, coming back home – what he learned, which new exercises they did. There is a girl with whom he communicates regularly- his first affection. Now Ilya can learn a 8-12 verses poem in two days. He has a real good memory. He is helping me with many things and we speak sbout different topics. He asked Saint Nicolas for health...

Because being healthy is his greatest dream. I promised him that Saint Nicolas is very kind and he can make his dream come true and answer his request. It would be so good to find a magic pill that could change our life, in which Ilya would start running around and jumping just like other kids!

With every next rehabilitation Ilya is changing – he is becoming stronger and more tolerant to stress and exercises. Due to this he is achieving good results. Please help our son not to stop on what he had achieved and go on fighting for his life, through which he would walk with a confident gait.

Name: Illia E. Okhrimenko, born 22.04.2010

Location: Vinnytsia region

Diagnosis: cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia, steady movement disorders, psychoverbal development delay