Artem N. born on 7 February 2001
Diagnosis: Cerebral palsy, severe mental retardation, double spastic diplegia, primary hydrocephalus and secondary cardiomyopathy.
Up-to-date treatment news of Artem N.
ATTENTION (02.05.2013).:
The fund-raising campaign is closed. Thanks to your kind support the necessary sum of money is already raised! Artem’s surgery was cancelled and substituted by Botox shots which will helpfully help the boy to walk independently soon!
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A couple of weeks ago I fell down and badly injured an arm. So for several days I had to do all the routine things I am used to with my right arm only. An accident made me a person with special needs – with the need to do everything with one arm only. In the beginning it really frightened me.
When I look at people with no legs begging in the street, the first thing I think about is that they are asking for money to buy vodka and that there is no reason for me to help them. Sometimes you see people with no arm or even without both arms, and you assume that something must have happened to them, just passing by and forgetting what you’ve seen.
You forget it if you have never had to face such a situation. An arm injury is not the most terrible thing. I was born with a sprained leg and had to wear some iron and plastic devices which seemed weird to me for a pretty long time. I didn't like doctors and was afraid of them. Nevertheless, I can walk on my own and I appreciate it.
I have been working in Kalinovka for almost a year now, and I know that there are many children there who are not able to walk. Maybe, they will never be able to walk. But there are other children, who can be put to their own feet if some efforts are made. There are some children who keep on asking: when will I have new legs, when will I walk? Falling from their wheelchairs or holding their walking frames, they still believe that one day they will be running around just like other children do.
Artem is one of such children, one of the four of them, whom last year an orthopedic surgeon recommended to go through surgeries to give them a chance to walk on their own. The boy is able to move using a walking frame, but only for a short time and a short distance. Plus, his feet are placed not the same way as those of ordinary people, as Artem has got cerebral palsy.
Currently Artem has been through all necessary examinations and can go to the regional clinic for a surgery, but there is an issue of finding a nurse for him. Only one nurse from the children’s home is ready to take care of children day and night. All the others are not ready to leave their own families and homes to take care of children outside the facility.
Artem will have to spend at least 10 days in the clinic for the surgery and then some more time for post-surgery rehabilitation. Ideally the rehabilitation course should take about two months, but we realize that no one will keep a boy from a children's home in the clinic for such a long period, so we assume that he will stay there for about a month – a month, when he will need a nurse round the clock. And to pay for the nurse’s aid, we need your support.
We will be happy if we find someone who will be taking care of Artem for free, but if we find no such volunteer, the nurse’s services will cost UAH 100 (approximately 12 US dollars) per day – that is UAH 3,000 per month. Now UAH 3000 (370 US dollars) is the price of Artem’s chance to walk on his own.
Just think about it: you have a wonderful gift - to move around on your own, and you are able to walk wherever you want without any assistance. So let’s give Artem a chance to walk and to make his life at least a little bit easier. Thank you!
Artem N. lives in the village of Kalinovka in the Zaporozhye region.
For further information please contact the volunteers of “The Happy Child” Foundation
The fund-raising campaign is closed.
he fund-raising campaign is closed.
