Sunny thumberlina girl. 4

Aneсhka Ishchenko is 12 years old, she is 101 cm tall and her weight is 9 200 g. She was born at 36 weeks with Down's syndrome and a heart defect. The baby had no sucking reflex and was prescribed tube feeding. When it was time for complementary feeding, the mother noticed that eating foods based on milk, oatmeal and other cereals made the baby's tummy ache. The baby was restless and constantly crying. Moreover, the girl started losing her weight suddenly. The reason was unclear for a long time.

Only in 2017 Anechka was diagnosed with celiac disease, lactose deficiency. Precious time was lost. Irreversible processes had begun. The intestinal mucosa was very badly damaged and, as a result, the absorption of nutrients was impaired. The girl began to lose weight more rapidly, her skeleton became even more fragile and she became as light as a feather.

Anechka does not chew food by her own, she can only eat buckwheat and some potatoes and other vegetables. Her main food is Neocate and Resource junior. She also eats gluten-free and lactose-free buckwheat-based baby porridge. In 2020 Anechka was diagnosed with protein-energy deficiency and a grain-free diet was added. Her morning starts with daily medication. Then she has a meal. She is constantly hungry, she eats, but she does not gain weight at all.

In spite of all these things, Anechka is a smiley girl. She is a student of the 4th grade and is homeschooler. She also attends an inclusive resource centre, where a psychologist, speech therapist, rehabilitation therapist, and speech pathologist work with her. And the treatment gives results – the child started saying phrases. She likes to play with dolls, collect puzzles and draw. She is also dancing and learning to sing.

The last check-up brought very good news – the growth hormone is normal, which means that Anechka is ready to grow, all she needs is easily absorbed nutrients. All internal organs are normal and age-matched, which means they will soon be cramped in the body cavities. Anechka really needs to grow, at least a little bit. This requires special food, which is very expensive. It is not affordable for a rural family to buy it on a regular basis.

Please help Anechka!