Before and after

When Masha was born, we did not hear her voice. She gave us a weak and plaintive cry only on the day of discharge from the hospital. And since then, every day, the power of her vocal chords has grown, until it became obvious that the silence in our house is now an infrequent guest. The forces inherent in nature were awakened.

Knowing that we are at risk, from the first weeks we all actively took on Masha: swimming, massages, gymnastics, reflexotherapy, sensory stimulation. All that was important before, went to the tenth plan. Daily lessons, the joy of minimal changes for the better has become the meaning and our work for many days.

The diagnosis "the threat of cerebral palsy" we heard in 3 months. A month later, the form-hyperkinetic, athetosis was determined. The most rare and difficult to rehabilitate form. An MRI scan at 9 months confirms that, due to an acute shortage of oxygen, the regions of the basal nuclei are affected. This means that Masha has many involuntary movements of all parts of the body, including the tongue, which prevents her from eating and drinking. It does not allow deftly to take a toy into her hand, and then release it. These movements intensify on emotions and completely cease only in a dream. But there is one plus - with this form of damage, intelligence is almost always preserved. And Masha, in addition to her mind, has a radiant smile, a sense of humor and curiosity.

We sometimes imagine Masha healthy, as if she were born without problems and understand how much we have lost. And instead switched to "you" with medical research, rehabilitation methods, terms and abbreviations.

Cerebral palsy, epilepsy, hyperkinesis, orthoses, langets, verticalizer, stroller, disability registration .. all this is our life now.

Before the birth of Masha, I have never seen a child with cerebral palsy in the streets of the city. I did not think about it and did not know about the reasons for this condition. But now I know - it's all because I lived in Kiev, where a disabled person simply does not have the opportunity to get out, or rather go out on a stroller, out of the apartment.

When Masha was one year old, we moved to Poland. This country was much more adapted and friendly to people with disabilities. And also here we have found good specialists-therapists who understand our problem.