Ivanka is a five-year-old girl, smart and cheerful, reads no worse than a first-grader and easily teaches poetry. With her birth, the family came to great happiness and… pain that must be overcome! Ivanka has cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia syndrome. The disease hit her legs the hardest, and it was difficult for the girl to walk. But cerebral palsy is not a sentence, the disease can be successfully treated, and the baby has every chance to study in a regular school and build their own happy destiny. But for this you need to regularly undergo expensive specialized treatment. Ivanka and her mother Yaroslava have visited Kozyavkin’s clinic in Truskavets 16 times already, and each time they returned with serious improvements! Nina Filatova tells the story of Ivanka to the winner of the "Master Chef" contest Season 6 Asmik Gasparyan.
Asmik, you are the mother of a four-year-old son, and you are close and understand the story of Yaroslava’s passionate love for her Ivanka. Yaroslava devoted her whole life to putting the child on her feet. She takes her to treatment, plays sports every day, teaches and develops the baby. How do you feel about sacrificing yourself for a child?
As a mother, as a woman, I certainly understand her. Yaroslava’s attitude to the child deserves great respect! And yet this is a very natural behavior, because every mother fights to the last to bring the child out of a critical situation: be it an illness, an accident or an accident at school. Therefore, I think that every woman in our country empathizes with Yaroslav and supports her.
Child, this is always the common destiny of two people: father and mother. Ivanka’s father literally spends days and nights at work, he is engaged in agriculture and for three years he paid all the numerous bills for treatment. Yaroslava says that the birth of their daughter made them a full-fledged family. Do you think many men dare to live such a life?
I don’t think many men can dedicate their lives to a problem child. Many simply leave the family, shifting all worries onto their mother’s shoulders. Alas, as scary as it sounds, but it is a statistic of our lives. And Ivanka’s dad is just a good guy, because it’s much harder for a man to accept the fight against a child’s illness as his destiny. And this can even be understood: a man, unlike a woman, does not feel instinctive love for the baby.
Sometimes people have a question: why doesn’t the family take care of the child? Why do they turn to benefactors? But I think, knowing how Ivanka’s father works, no one should have such a question…
You should never blame the family! After all, in addition to paying for the child’s treatment, the family has a lot of other expenses for the girl, and me as a mother. this is well known. Raising even a healthy child in our country is very expensive. And it is very difficult to earn for all the needs of the family.
This year, for the first time, Ivanka, along with other children, attended a New Year’s matinee in kindergarten. With each health session at Kozyavkin’s clinic, the girl is less and less different from her peers. She is mobile. funny and very friendly. The children love her. And although Ivanka is still a baby, I think she would be very pleased to hear words of encouragement from you. Tell me, what would you like to wish the girl?
First of all, I wish Ivanka good health. And let her have enough inner strength to overcome all difficulties and master the path that is given to her. I wish her God’s blessing, so that the guardian angels will always stand behind her and protect her. Ivanka’s relatives are fighting so hard for her health! But there is also a huge human family that empathizes with her. And I hope that everything will work out in her life. I wish that Ivanka confidently walked to the first grade with her legs, holding the hand of her first teacher. And thus caused a storm of tears in Yaroslava - but let it be tears of joy! May Yaroslava be happy!
Psychological support services for parents of children with disabilities have not been established in our country. Mothers are forced to unite and support each other on their own. Yaroslava herself is ready to establish a fund to help mothers who have faced a problem like her. Because for most women, the diagnosis of cerebral palsy is a shock: where to go, where to start and what to do? Do you think that there should be organizations that provide psychological assistance to families with children with disabilities? Or should this matter be entrusted to church communities or public organizations? Perhaps the backbone of such an organization should be the mothers of sick children?
I think that psychological help is very relevant and effective, especially in situations where parents are raising a sick child. Unfortunately, support groups for families in stressful situations in our country have not been developed. It seems to me that our church is hardly ready to take on such issues. But you can just come and talk to the priest - and it will be easier on the soul. And the help to such parents, of course, should be organized by the person who went through it. I think that among the mothers of sick children there are probably women with psychological education who can provide professional counseling. They will be the strongest, most motivated psychologists. These will not be just specialists hired by the state and working off their salaries. These will be people who know the problem from the inside.
Asmik, you are a media person, many public people are willing to do charity simply because it opens up great opportunities to help others. But tell me, don’t you think that charity is a question to some extent, even an intimate one, which concerns a person’s spiritual life? How do you feel about charity?
Charity is close to my heart. I have only recently become a public figure, but my family has always been involved in charity. But this is really a purely personal matter, about which you do not want to blow the trumpet to the right and left. Talking about good deeds is as shameful as flaunting orders. My family regularly helps, and by our example we try to direct our friends and acquaintances to charity. Believe me, good deeds are worth doing, because they bring peace and tranquility to the soul.
Sometimes it happens that a person reads someone’s story, is very empathetic, thinks: I would be happy to help! And… does nothing! Not because he is sorry for money or does not have time, but because he is overwhelmed by his own household chores and he forgets about his good intentions. But thoughts without deeds do not make sense. How do you think you can stimulate yourself to a good cause?
You just have to start doing good deeds - and it will become a habit. You just never have to put off good intentions. If you have an idea to help - it must be implemented at the same time. If you think about it: I will leave work tomorrow, go to Privatbank, transfer the money… Probably, you will postpone the case and do nothing. And if you postpone for another day, then 100% - do not complete the plan. Therefore, if there is an impulse: you have read about the child and you really want to help, you need to act! Life in our country, alas, is very busy, and we do not forget from evil, just prolong household problems. But what really matters is not the scale of the transfer - it can be any - but the fact that you have not passed a person whose help is vital.