Mom, can I become a dancer?

Lika has been fighting for her life since birth. She was born much earlier, weighing 830 grams, and was the size of a palm. In addition to Lika, the family has two other children, whose mother, a migrant from the anti-terrorist operation zone, is raising on her own. Immediately after being diagnosed with cerebral palsy, the father left the family, erasing them from his life. Lika was on artificial lung ventilation in the intensive care unit for three months. Every day doctors fought for her life. The child could not eat, keep body temperature, pressure, see, breathe.

The condition was critically serious. When she was three months old, she began to breathe on her own. This was the first victory. From that moment began the search for doctors, medical treatment. Lika has a very severe delay in physical and mental development. Doctors have established an incurable diagnosis  cerebral palsy.

Now Lika is almost 5 years old, behind many courses of treatment and rehabilitation, massages, acupuncture, chiropractic, hippotherapy, swimming for babies, classes with speech pathologists, which are sometimes very painful and exhausting, and very expensive. But it works and gives a positive result.
Now the girl is able to walk with the support of adults, eats almost without help, learns to undress on their own, speaks some words, short phrases and understands a lot. She knows colors, shapes, animals, learned letters. She loves music and tries to dance. Cerebral palsy is an incurable disease, but if you exercise regularly, you can reduce its manifestations and live a full life on your own. At this diagnosis it is necessary to be engaged almost all life. If you stop training and rehabilitation - the muscles harden, lose plasticity, it becomes difficult to talk, chew, move arms and legs and stretch them. It happens that even a child who has learned to walk, without classes later moves only with a wheelchair.

According to doctors, Lika has a very impressive result and good prospects for the future, provided constant rehabilitation. But, unfortunately, the mother has a difficult financial situation because she is forced to rent a house and provide food and necessities for her three children, and is unable to pay for the necessary rehabilitation course for her daughter. Your help and support is extremely important for this girl to take a step towards a full and independent life in the future. Thank you for your sensitive hearts.

Name: Makarova Lika, 06.06.2015

City: Kyiv

Diagnosis: cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia, mental and speech development retardation (G80.1)