Every day is a test

Illia is only ten years old, but his strength of spirit and courage are decades ahead of his age. That's because every day for him is a struggle with illness, namely type 1 diabetes. This insidious disease took hold of the child when he was only four.

Illia was born a healthy child. He grew up as a loved and wanted boy, unaware of hardship and misfortune. But the boy celebrated his fourth birthday in the hospital. The peak of COVID in Ukraine hit the family hard – Illia was very ill and spent all his time in the hospital. But if only that had been the end of it – on the contrary, after that, the family's life changed forever. Over time, his mother began to notice the first alarming changes in Illia's behavior and body: he became lethargic, weak, began to lose weight visibly, became irritable over any little thing, and was constantly tormented by thirst and frequent urges to use the bathroom. A few tests later, the verdict was officially announced.

The family knew almost nothing about the diagnosis. They had to learn everything from scratch: the need to constantly monitor blood sugar levels, administer insulin when the child wants to eat, and everything else. They began to learn to live with diabetes, although it was very difficult. Counting bread units, carbohydrates, calories, weighing, measuring... and so it has been for six years. The most painful thing for Illia's mother was to watch her child cry in pain when she pricked his tiny finger to take blood for the glucometer.

Despite his illness, the boy went to kindergarten and school. He has many friends and companions with whom he enjoys going fishing. His friends and classmates know about his illness and sometimes help him: if Illia has hypoglycemia, they always share sweets with him. More than anything else in the world, his mother dreams that her child will grow up happy and joyful, without feeling "different" among his peers. But for this, in addition to patience, courage, and strength of spirit, an indescribable amount of money is needed – money that the family does not have. In particular, money to purchase glucose monitoring sensors.