Mashunia is my second happiness; the first is already 9 years old. She is a beloved long-awaited child. She was born healthy, at first sight of the doctors and of us, her parents. She turned yellow on the third day, like all healthy babies (physiological jaundice).
We were discharged home. A heap of joy and good feelings. For two months Masha would turn yellow and then pale again. We followed the treatment the doctor prescribed. We were told it would pass. But somehow it did not.
We went to the regional hospital in Mykolaiv. For two weeks we had tests for every possible viral hepatitis, but nothing was confirmed.
I insisted that we be referred to Okhmatdyt. There, too, no diagnosis was made for a long time. Only after three weeks in Kyiv was a liver biopsy taken from Masha. And then a terrible diagnosis fell upon us – biliary atresia. Biliary cirrhosis.
The child was already almost 5 months old. The world around us turned upside down. But we had to act. We were referred to the Shalimov Institute for a consultation with O. H. Kotenko, who said that a transplant is the only way to save her.
With this terrible diagnosis we were discharged home (at that time transplantation had been suspended). The child was not getting any better. And we were discharged with a subclavian catheter.
It got to the point where Masha simply stopped eating. I realised it was time to act. Fortunately, there were people who told us where to turn, and that it was not yet too late.
Because there was no exact diagnosis, and on the basis of the accounts of families with similar diagnoses, we were recommended the Saint-Luc clinic in Brussels, Belgium. Over 10 years a team of wonderful doctors from Belgium have got more than 35 children from Ukraine back on their feet.
To be admitted for treatment 134 745 euros have to be raised (the operation + accompanying costs). We cannot manage the sum for the operation on our own. Masha's father is an electrician and I am a teacher. The donor for our daughter will be her grandmother!
We are now in Lviv under the care of a doctor who has stabilised our daughter's condition. But at times Masha becomes unwell. And her condition, unfortunately, is unpredictable.
Sincerely, Yuliia.
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