Ilona from Lozuvatka needs help

Ilona’s life in Kryvyi Rih is full of dancing, movement, and poetry. She reads her own poetry at school concerts. It also includes a strict diet and daily blood sugar monitoring. But despite all the troubles, she dreams of feeling freedom and safety – of a world without illness and war.

Until the age of six, Ilona was healthy, but then her weight began to increase rapidly. She started taking dance classes, but it didn’t help. The doctor assured the family that her weight would normalize by puberty.

However, in June 2022, Ilona was diagnosed with non–insulin-dependent diabetes. This chronic illness can lead to insulin resistance – an elevated insulin concentration in the blood plasma. It significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as kidney, eye, nerve, and blood vessel damage.

Thanks to her diet, exercises, and medication, Ilona was able to stabilize her health and lose weight. But recently, her weight started increasing again, and her blood glucose level began to fluctuate dangerously. The endocrinologist prescribed medications – Lanyera, Saxenda, and Synjardy – which help lower glucose levels and stabilize her overall health and weight. With your help, we can purchase a three-month supply of these medications.

She also needs blood tests at the CentroLab medical laboratory, to adjust the medication dosage. Ilona undergoes these tests once every three months.

Ilona helps her mother at home and assists her younger brother, a first-grader, with homework. She is in the 9th grade and is deciding whether to continue to the 10th grade or apply to a law college. She also dreams of becoming a flight attendant, just like her aunt.

Ilona is responsible, determined, and cheerful. She dances, rides her bicycle, and performs at school concerts, where she is invited to read her poetry.

She dreams of a life without constant restrictions, medications, and medical examinations. And above all, she dreams of peace in Ukraine. Last summer, her family was forced to leave their home in Lozuvatka and start over in Kryvyi Rih as internally displaced persons.

For Irina, who is raising two children without their father's involvement, this is an extremelysignificant financial burden. Let’s help provide Ilona with medication and cover her laboratory blood test. Every contribution is an investment in Ilona’s health and her confidence in tomorrow.