Evelina's wounded childhood – pain louder than words

Evelina's mother Maria is a single mother of three children. She has already been through years of fighting for the life and rehabilitation of her middle son, and when little Evelina was born, she believed everything would be alright. The girl developed normally up to one year of age, repeating her first sounds: "meow-meow," "woof-woof," "cluck-cluck," but at one year and two months she suddenly fell completely silent. Despite doctors' assurances that the child would "grow out of it," no miracle came: after years of endless examinations and ineffective treatment, the family heard a devastating medical verdict – childhood autism, intellectual disability, and brain dysfunction.

The past four years, however, have turned into an unrelenting ordeal that not everyone could even bear to witness. Evelina began experiencing terrible, uncontrollable episodes of self-aggression. Strong psychotropic medications barely help. During these episodes, the girl violently bangs her head against walls and scratches her back and nose until they bleed. Her nervous system responds this way to hidden physical pain caused by her accompanying diagnoses. Since Evelina cannot identify the source of this pain or speak about it, she protects herself in the only way available to her – through screaming and self-aggression, attempting to "drown out" this constant internal discomfort with intense external sensation.

A mother's heart breaks when she watches her daughter harm herself. The only thing that helps Evelina is intensive corrective therapy sessions. When the girl works with specialists, her brain "switches on" and literally blocks the self-harm episodes. She desperately needs to continue treatment and undergo courses of physical therapy and sensory integration. But the financial and physical resources of this single mother are completely exhausted. Maria is pleading for help for her little daughter. Please help protect Evelina from her own pain, and give this family the chance for a peaceful life free from blood, screaming, and suffering. They are in great need of your support!