Eat, hope, live! 4

This name of this cutie is Polina. While most children dream of new toys for the holidays, Polina dreams of being able to walk, play with friends, just be. Polinka was born in 2011. And throughout her life, due to a rare genetic disease, she has a muscular weakness. She has one broken gene in the chain of her DNA. The gene that affects the work of the motor neurons of the spinal cord and they, in turn, are responsible for the work of the muscles, taking away the ability to sit, walk, roll over, cough, swallow and, eventually, breathe. Polina inherited this breakdown from mom and dad.

Every 40th inhabitant of the planet is the carrier of such a broken gene. When there are 2 carriers, they will have a child with SMA with a probability of 25%. The older sister of Polina is completely healthy. Life expectancy with the most severe form of the flow of the SMA is no more than two years. Polina was lucky, she has type II, so her life expectancy is predicted to be 16 years.

Polina is a cheerful, intelligent girl who deserves to have a future. Polina’s family gives all the resources to provide the girl with constant medical support to gain as much time as possible. Every day, the girl becomes weaker. The muscles are already so weak that they do not hold the joints and the spine. Every day, the family is fighting to strengthen the body. Massages, vitamins, dietary supplements, special nutrition, maintenance therapy drugs – Polina tolerates everything and resists the disease with all her strength.

Despite the fact that Polina's disease is rare and there are only a couple of hundred of such patients in Ukraine, there is no state support yet. And while the parents of kids with SMA are defending the opportunity to get the only medicine in the world that can stop the extinction of their children, our task is to support the Polina to the maximum so that as little skill as possible will be lost during this time, so that as much energy as possible remains in the small body.

Rehabilitation centers for improving the physical condition and quality of life offer for children with SMA complexes of physical therapy, increasing physical activity, training on simulators, exercises in the pool – children with weak muscles feel in the water stronger and can perform movements that are impossible in everyday life. We ask everyone who understands the value of the child, health and human feelings – help us to help Polina so that she can wait for her medicine – so that she has more Birthdays than predicted at the time of diagnosis! Support our fundraising efforts for the rehabilitation course for Polina.

Name: Kozenkova Polina, 23.03.2011

City: Pesochin town, Kharkiv region

Diagnosis: spinal muscular atrophy, hyperhomocysteinemia, mitochondrial dysfunction