The Breath of Life for a Little Ania

Five-year Hannochka is down with cystic fibrosis. It is a genetic disease, which causes mucus in the human body to become very thick. Hanna has lungs and intestinal tract most affected by this disease. During her short life this girl has already undergone a number of complex operations on the intestines. The girl can be helped with the drug "Pulmozym". Its price is about 2000 UAH per a package. Hanna must take it all her life. For the next 3 months it is necessary to have 15 packages, which cost almost 30,000 UAH. Yet there is no such money in the family, exhausted by the continuous treatment, expensive diagnostic and many other expenses.

An accurate diagnosis has been made too late (only when the girl was 4 years old), so there appeared irreversible changes in Hanna’s lungs: the lung cells degenerated in the connective tissue and cannot perform the respiratory function. In the girl’s lungs the mucus is so thick that it clogs the bronchi and trachea, causing Hanna to suffocate. Especially she can't stand hot weather. At the air temperatures above 18 degrees she has liquid evaporated from her respiratory tract, which makes mucus even more condensed and causes pneumonia. She also suffers a lot from a painful cough. This situation is very dangerous for a sick child, because according to statistics, it is respiratory failure from which almost 95 % of patients with cystic fibrosis die. Pulmozym is a solution for inhalation, which thins mucus in the lungs and does not clog the airways. There are 6 vials for 6 days in one package.

Hannochka and her 2.5-year-old brother are raised by their mother alone. Their father left the family, getting scared of the child’s serious condition, and there are no family or friends who could help. Despite serious illness and small height and weight (the child lags behind her peers by 20 cm in height and 7 kg in weight) Hannochka is trying to be a mother's helper: she works in the garden, does the washing-up. The girl loves her brother and as the elder helps her mom supervise him: feeds him with a spoon, teaches how to blow on hot food. The girl loves to sing and aims at education.

Hanna’s mother, Olga, fights with her daughter’s disease with her last strength. It is difficult to convey what this woman has suffered for all these years, but she has not lost her hope. That is why she appeals to anyone who can help: "My child really wants to live. Despite all the gloomy predictions of doctors, she lives and grows. Although every day of her life is not as easy as of others, Hannochka lives and is willing to survive. I appeal to all concerned people: please support the desire of my daughter to breathe freely and simply live!"

Name: Hanna Morozova, 5 years.

City: Donetsk.

Diagnosis: Cystic fibrosis