Vitalina: keep the disease under control

It seemed that Vitalinka was born completely healthy. But then it became clear that something was wrong with the baby – she often got sick, the usual acute respiratory viral infections almost always went into bronchitis or inflammation of the lungs. The doctors recognized the rare diagnosis when the girl was 4 years old. Since then, the daily struggle against the disease has begun: inhalations, respiratory gymnastics, a handful of medicines every day and intravenous lines in the hospital every three months. 

Currently, it is necessary to purchase medical equipment and supplies for the child in order to keep the disease under control. Vitalinka likes books very much, she is happy to teach her younger sister, Ania, to play with dolls and cuddly toys imagining them being her pupils and herself a teacher. Vitalinka dreams of becoming a teacher of English. She likes sweets, cartoons, loves her sister, mom, and dad. She undergoes all the procedures patiently. But now she began to ask questions: why she is sick, why she should do boring inhalations and her sister doesn’t, why she drinks pills when she wants to eat ice cream and her mother doesn’t. The big blue eyes of the girl are filled with tears. At a time like this younger Anyuta demands both inhalation and pills so that her sister does not cry. The girls are very friendly.

Mom has some hearing problems, which complicates the communication with the officials responsible for the provision of medicines to the girl. Vitalina’s dad has to make money abroad to provide for a family. The parents try their best, but it's difficult to cope with the disease alone.

Name: Sydorchuk Vitalina, 19.07.2013

City: Ostashky village, Khmelnytskyi region

Diagnosis: cystic fibrosis with pancreatic insufficiency