Elina's life's distortion

Elina's spinal curvature was noticed in kindergarten – her parents rushed to the doctors, did gymnastics, massages, hoped that everything would pass. But the fear was already growing: the child's spine continued to curve. And so, in the Zhytomyr regional hospital, the first diagnosis was scoliosis. Back then, no one even guessed how much struggle Elina would face.

– In the second grade, the child was put in her first corset, and it was very painful. The doctors demanded that Elina wear it 24/7, but there was still no result, – recalls Elina's mother, Maria Gonchar.

The corset was terribly hard, made of plastic, with Velcro, made specifically for Elina's size. She would put it on and cry because it was pressing, she suffered from every movement, secretly unfastened it and loosened it a little. The parents did everything they could: they shouted, they argued, they reconciled. And this horror lasted for years, until Elina was in eighth grade.

– The disease still progressed. At first, I was in such shock: I didn’t know where to run, what to do. I had two children in my arms - Elina and our youngest daughter. No one could give me any clues. In the whole city of Zhytomyr, Elinka was the only one with such a difficult diagnosis. There was another girl, but she was operated on when she was little. But then, I somehow got control of myself, exhaled and told myself that much worse cases happen, so let’s live and support each other, – says Maria.

And it helped a lot. The girl did not withdraw, at school she was always at the epicenter of everything: fairs, projects, events. When the Russian invasion began, Elina wove bracelets, collected money for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, danced in an ensemble, and later opened a TikTok page - telling other children about her illness.

– I told her: tell me about your illness, because there are many such children. So my daughter began to feel more or less free, stopped having complexes. She showed on TikTok that she had such a back and many children answered her that I had it too, – recalls Elina's mother.

And two years ago, Maria made another desperate attempt to find the cause of Elina's illness - she turned to a geneticist at the Okhmatdit hospital. And for the first time she heard something that struck her to the core: Elina's problems lie in her genes - it is neurofibromatosis, inherited from her mother.

The doctor explained that the disease can manifest itself as small spots or tumors on the body, and can destroy the spine - hence scoliosis.

Despite the despair and fear, this was at least some explanation, a feeling that their problem had its roots, although there was no answer to the question: "what to do?" yet.

– If she is in pain, she will endure until the end, she is so courageous. Sometimes there are periods when her back hurts in a day, and sometimes it doesn’t hurt for a week, and then it gets really bad, and it is equally difficult to stand or lie down. And unfortunately, now it is more and more common, – says Maria.

When Elina was given a second, genetic diagnosis, Maria went on a real pilgrimage to hospitals - Lviv, Vinnytsia, Kyiv… But only in Dnipro did they meet a doctor who laid everything out on the shelves, explained the prospects and the course of the disease. The family believed him completely. And now Elina is being prepared for a complex operation, under the guidance of specialists from the Rudnev Mother and Child Hospital.

– The doctor told us that this would be a very difficult operation, because it is related to neurosurgery. He explained that they would put special plates that would fix the back and there would be no further curvature of the spine. As the doctor explained, if this is not done, the nerves could be damaged and the child would end up in a wheelchair, – says Maria.

Just to buy titanium implants, the Gonchar family needs almost 200 000 UAH. And there are additional costs for rehabilitation – this is a catastrophically large amount for them. Maria, Elina's mother, works and at the same time raises two children alone, she is divorced from her husband. So any amount is very important for a family that cannot save the child on its own, without the help of kind people.

If you can help save the child – make your contribution to Elina's recovery!