Let's give Marynka hope for her future. 6

Marina was born premature, but with the weight of a term infant. However, the doctors diagnosed pneumonia immediately. They put her under the apparatus of mechanical ventilation and prescribed antibiotics. On the third day when the doctors thought that she can breathe on her own, the ventilation was turned off. Suddenly, that evening the cramps began. This convulsive attack was caused by anoxia and cerebral hemorrhage. The baby was helped out of such a bad state of health almost till the morning; as a result, she was diagnosed with meningitis. Marina spent the whole month in the neonate pathology department, where she was treated with antibiotics, slowly gained weight. After a month of such a serious treatment, she finally returned home.

It seemed everything was fine at first. For some time, grave consequences were revealed: the girl began to hold her head up late, hypertonicity in her right arm and leg appeared. From this moment the daily hard work on the way to a healthy life began. The baby underwent numerous courses of treatment and rehabilitation. She learned how to sit when she was 1 year old. Her parents were so happy to see this, even though her peers have already started to walk. The next step was to make the first steps. When Marina made her first steps when she was two, it caused happiness.

Unfortunately, there were still a lot of difficulties ahead. Six months later, the girl began pulling her right leg and standing it on the toe. Also, a strong hypertonicity appeared in her arm, she could not do anything. The child underwent three surgeries in order to stand on both of her feet. The first two were done to put the foot on the heel. The third one was done to remove an acquired hip displacement. That was a very difficult surgery, is performed in two steps. But unfortunately, progress was only partially made. Another consequence was revealed later: mental retardation. Marina began to speak her first words when she was three years old and sentences only after four years.

Specialists still taking care of her: speech therapist, psychologist, social educator, rehabilitation specialist, in order to teach her how to speak well, how to behave correctly, how to communicate with their peers as well as self-care and socialization skills in the environment. Marina loves reading children's books, loves drawing heroes from her favorite cartoons. She dreams of becoming the same as all healthy children are, having a beautiful gait and correct posture, playing and running with all the children in the playground, going in for sports, go to secondary school, not to a specialized one. This little girl and her parents know that cerebral palsy is just a diagnosis that can be overcome. Let’s help Marina in her uphill struggle for a happy future!

Name: Dolgopiata Maryna, 05.08.2010

City: Kyiv

Diagnosis: persistent residual effects of neuro infection during the perinatal period in the form of moderate right hemiparesis, cerebrotonic syndrome. Moderate dysfunction of the right arm and walking