Ruslan is 25 years old. According to documents, he is already an adult, but the young man has severe developmental impairments due to cerebral palsy and a rare genetic disorder—Joubert syndrome. At the same time, he is physically active: he crawls around his room, which is fully equipped for his comfort.
For the past four years, Ruslan has been receiving therapeutic nutrition because regular food stopped being absorbed and caused spasms.
Ruslan's mother shares: "He used to eat like everyone else. I made him little meat patties, mashed into small piles. I mashed Borshch with a potato masher. But then his stomach suddenly started to hurt badly. He would scream and cry..."
The doctor advised switching to enteral nutrition—special nutritional formulas. Thanks to this, the pain attacks stopped, and Ruslan calmed down. It also became easier for his mother: "The Doktor calculated the calories so that he gets a complete meal. With regular food, it's hard to count calories. Sometimes it was already time to feed him, but he would refuse. I worried that he was hungry. I would try to guess what he wanted, stay up half the night, running around and offering different foods.
Now my son eats every three hours. As a mother, of course, I feel more at ease. And we've even developed a special ritual around feeding. I always give him a hand massage and kiss each of his fingers."
To make such moments of peace and love happen more often, the Vera Foundation provides therapeutic nutrition for families.
A seriously ill child or adult can usually receive therapeutic nutrition from the state for free. But for this, the family needs to go through a series of bureaucratic procedures—and the process usually drags on for months. While Vera's lawyers help the family gather documents and secure the nutrition they are entitled to, the foundation purchases a supply.
Right now, this support is needed not only by Ruslan and his mother, but also by dozens of other families. Support the Vera Foundation's fundraiser, and together we can give them more peaceful moments—without pain, without fear, without sleepless nights.
Verified by Tooba
Verified by Tooba
