Artem is 8 years old, he goes to the 2nd grade of an ordinary school, tries to keep up in all subjects. The boy knows how to walk by the hand, stand near a support, sit independently and, more recently, he learned to eat himself. And this is all overcoming the strong tone in the legs. About such children as Artem, they say as very promising. But it was not always like that. As a result of a medical error, the boy was born at 32 weeks of gestation. During childbirth, he received oxygen starvation of the brain. Closer to a year old, the baby was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, tetraparesis, and motor development retardation. From that moment a difficult life began for Artem and his parents.

No one knew if Vika would survive. After a premature birth, the girl did not eat, she stopped breathing, so she was in intensive care. Then she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and Dandy-Walker syndrome. But Vika survived. Although she now has to challenge the right to every free movement, she is alive! And she pleases her relatives with new skills that are given to her with such difficulty... 

Marina was born premature, but with the weight of a term infant. However, the doctors diagnosed pneumonia immediately. They put her under the apparatus of mechanical ventilation and prescribed antibiotics. On the third day when the doctors thought that she can breathe on her own, the ventilation was turned off. Suddenly, that evening the cramps began. This convulsive attack was caused by anoxia and cerebral hemorrhage. The baby was helped out of such a bad state of health almost till the morning; as a result, she was diagnosed with meningitis. Marina spent the whole month in the neonate pathology department, where she was treated with antibiotics, slowly gained weight. After a month of such a serious treatment, she finally returned home. 

Yura Petrenko is 10 years old and all these years he lives with a chronic orphan disease of primary immunodeficiency. His mother Victoria is 42 years old and she herself brings up two sons 10 and 14 years old. They live in the city of Dnipro, the youngest son Jura from birth is very often ill with infectious diseases – purulent sinusitis, acute bronchitis, and pneumonia. All these diseases are treated only with antibiotics, and after one of pneumonia, when antibiotics no longer acted on Yura, his mother took him from the hospital and took him to Kyiv for examination. First, to "OKHMATDYT", and then to the Department of Immunology, where Yura was diagnosed with primary immunodeficiency. It means that the child has very weak immunity and is doomed to support the body with immunoglobulins and antibiotics. 

Maksym’s parents remember how happy they were during 2017 New Year celebration when the treatment ended. They had only one wish – health for the son! The boy lived in remission for two and a half years. He returned to his usual life playing football with his older brother, beginning to prepare for school... Suddenly the disease returned. A control MRI examination revealed a tumor.

Dania is growing up before our eyes. With each new day, he becomes more independent, attentive and patient. And this oh how difficult, given the number of his diagnoses... This indicates one thing: he is a real fighter for his own health. And he has been fighting since birth: how he and his mother first heard that the boy has a myotonic syndrome, neuro infection and inflammation of the central nervous system. The first days after the birth of Dania constantly shook his head and cried. And over time, parents noticed other problems: the boy had deformed feet and impaired posture. Subsequently, there was a delay in psychomotor development, until the age of 7 the boy barely spoke. 

Incurable lung cancer gradually deprives a person of oxygen. Quite literally: the tumor blocks the bronchi and there is less and less room for inhaling. Many other tumors metastasize to the lungs, and the result is the same: the ill person gasps for breath. Stroke, heart failure again: it becomes difficult to breathe. When somebody lives his or her last days suffering from pain and shortness of breath, it is a common thing, isn't it? This stereotype is no longer tolerable! When the lungs and the heart cannot work properly, an oxygen concentrator can provide breathing.

Daryna Ogilko will soon turn 4. Three of them, she is fighting non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Hormones changed the face of the child beyond recognition, but they cannot be canceled, because wounds immediately appear on the skin. These are manifestations of the chronic graft versus host reaction. The only treatment that can help is a course of photopheresis, which is not available in Ukraine. In early childhood, a girl found a tumor on her head. Soon, analysis showed that it was an aggressive B-cell lymphoma. 

Loneliness, when you are “not needed by anyone” – even adults can hardly bear it. For a child, this is a real tragedy. Nothing can replace mom's gentle hands in the first year of life. And yet we can support abandoned children: to make sure that they do not need at least material: food and hygiene products. "Abandoned children" leave dysfunctional mothers in maternity hospitals and even well-arranged parents, if the child was born with pathologies. Children found on the street and taken from families where they were not cared for are brought to hospitals. About 2 weeks is required for examination; in reality, while the guardianship authorities will complete all the necessary documents, sometimes months pass. 

More than 9 years ago, Diana and I first came to Dzherelo Centre. It became a lifeline and a guide for our family. Throughout all these years, we have watched the Centre develop and rejoice in every success. We sincerely wish the Dzherelo Centre mission spread and more children and young people with special needs will be able to live in dignity, have a job and, most importantly, be accepted and loved.