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Silent conversation





COLLECTED UAH 539,000. Hospitalization in August. OPERATION CARRIED OUT.

The Simple Help Fund and Privatbank’s clients contributed UAH 264,000.

Kristina Chepukhina urgently needs cochlear implantation. The girl must be operated on before the age of three.

What could be worse than uncertainty? And if we are talking about the health and future of the child?! .. When Irina Chepukhina was offered to examine her two-year-old daughter Christina at a deaf and dumb doctor, she was inwardly rushing from fear to hope. At night I dreamed that the doctors were wrong, and the test will be: no problem, in fact, their Christina - a normal healthy girl and hears normally, just a sulfur plug in the ear, it happens - so the doctors themselves say…


And here it came - "X-Day": from the hometown of Sinelnikovo, in the Dnepropetrovsk region, the Chepukhin family came to the Dnieper, to the Children’s Regional Clinical Hospital. I.I. Мечникова. We went to the deaf doctor’s office. The doctor, Andrei Valeryevich Zaitsev, explained to the parents that the hearing diagnosis procedure would take no more than twenty minutes. At first, Christina was placed under light anesthesia, and when the girl fell asleep, sensors were attached to her head. The deaf and dumb man froze in front of the monitor, studying the diagrams incomprehensible to his parents, and endlessly torturous moments of anxious anticipation and frightening silence lasted. Finally, the doctor said, “Your diagnosis is fourth-degree sensorineural hearing loss. It’s a pity, but your child doesn’t hear any sounds, almost none. "

Irina’s throat tightened so that she could not exhale a word: her daughter is deaf, how can that be? And what to do with it?… “You are shown cochlear implantation. We need to go to Kyiv "- and now the hope that has already erupted is ruined by the extreme, cosmic cost of the operation: such a sum will turn any dream to ashes. Back, Irina and Kirill drove silently, what can I say: there is no money for the operation. Christina’s father works as a driver in a locomotive depot, the girl’s mother Irina stays at home with her daughter, the eldest son grows up in the family, and so on.
After diagnosing her daughter, who ended up with the most terrible diagnosis, Irina and Kirill began to suffer from hopelessness. And the hidden negativity was involuntarily dropped on each other, they began to quarrel over trifles, Irina, far from prying eyes, shed tears of grief, appeared on people with a smile: why strangers her trouble? Kirill closed himself in, fell into depression, did not please even his favorite motorcycle, stopped going to the garage, lost interest and taste for life: Christina - his favorite, the only daughter in a purely male family Chepukhin, and here - a diagnosis as a sentence for a term of all my life.

Only three months later, the parents adapted a little to what had happened, peace returned to the family, Irina and Kirill began to make plans to go to Kyiv, looking for money for cochlear implantation. What had happened was no longer a terrible mistake. And the previous ignorance seemed surprising, because my heart had understood before: something was wrong with the baby. The first bell rang when Christine was barely a year and a half old. The baby learned to walk: sometimes her father and mother were called, and she did not react, as if they were not here, did not turn around. It was then that the suspicion crept in that Christina was hearing impaired. Irina and Kirill began to arrange home "tests": they turned on the TV loudly behind their backs, made a noise with a hair dryer and a vacuum cleaner, but, alas! .. The daughter remained unperturbed. The anxiety was contained only by one thing: the baby had an amazing habit - you knock on her shoulder, she does not turn around. And yet, to dispel suspicions, Irina and her daughter went to the local doctor, but she did not dare to diagnose and referred to specialists in the Dnieper.

Why the child lost his hearing, none of the doctors gives an unequivocal answer. Probably, from birth Christina still heard, chattered in her childish language - tried to speak. The mother recalls that at the age of five months, her daughter developed severe bronchitis and possibly a complication of it and caused the current problems. There is another, also unconfirmed, option: hearing could be affected by one of the mandatory vaccinations. The only thing Irina regrets is that if they could see the problem in time, they would be able to restore the child’s hearing. But the past cannot be returned, and Irina, wise with her bitter experience, just wants to convey to other moms and dads: be extremely attentive to babies, let you be wary of any unusual detail in their behavior and at the slightest suspicion of deafness consult a deaf person, do not hesitate.

Now both dad and mom are learning to understand their daughter without words. The hearing aid prescribed for wearing the girl is almost impossible to help her, and the parents talk to the daughter, focusing on her articulation of the lips. And on the advice of other mothers, Irina teaches her daughter to put her hand on her throat so that she can feel the vibration of the vocal cords and relate it to speech and hearing. But so far Christina can’t handle the speech. She pricked her finger - she runs not to tell, but to show, the baby knows well - my mother will regret it without words. And recently she was naughty - she pushed a foam ball into her nose, and she also came and "confessed": she pointed her finger and "explained" what she had done. I had to go to Laura, "save" the nose.
Sometimes Christina starts a game: she comes to the kitchen, stands in the middle and stands. "Do you want to drink?" - Mom begins to "guess". Pours compote or water. "No? .. Then eat?" Food and utensils are taken out of the drawers and the refrigerator, but Christina can have anything on her mind: from the desire to eat candy to the intention to get inaccessible boxes of spices and oils, which her mother prudently keeps on the shelves above. And don’t blame Christine and forbid her to satisfy her "research instinct." The baby will still get his way and get what he is interested in. She is a very smart, strong-willed and purposeful girl, and even her brother, who is three years older than Christina, does not risk taking away her car or gun. Christina does not like dolls, prefers toys that buzz, move and delight the baby those that vibrate and live. For her, vibration is a living sound in the flesh.

Christina already knows how to handle a spoon, draws with her mother, and rides a bicycle with her father. She reaches out to babies like her, and when she plays with children, her face reflects the emotions of others like a mirror. And she loves holiday fireworks: perhaps this is the only spectacle she hears and turns in search of bright stars mysteriously slamming in the sky.

According to doctors, if Christina is operated on this year, then a few months after the implantation, the girl will catch up in the development of peers. Christina is already in the free queue for an implant, but her number in this queue is 379, and in a month she has advanced by only ten people. It is unrealistic to wait for a free operation for a child ... And yet… Christina’s parents really hope that the world is not without good people, they will definitely help them, and their daughter, who wants to hear mom and dad, will hear and speak.

Author Nina Filatova
Photo from the personal archive of the family

Professor, Doctor of Medical Sciences Mehmet Zia Ozier, Asibadem Clinic (Turkey):“Kristina Chepukhina has bilateral sensorineural hearing loss of the 4th degree, bordering on deafness. Recently, the baby has passed all the necessary examinations, she is completely suitable for the method of cochlear implantation. Christina is a very promising child and has good speech potential. Thanks to constant classes and treatment, the girl will develop speech. Subsequently, it will be fully integrated into the hearing environment and will be able to go to public school. "

The Turkish clinic Asibadem issued an invoice for $ 20,000. This is UAH 539,000. Christina’s relatives do not have such money.

Dear friends! If you decide to save Kristina Chepukhina, don’t be embarrassed by the price of salvation. Any of your donations will be gratefully accepted. You can send a donation by bank transfer to the Fund. All the necessary details are in the fund. You can also use our electronic payment system by making a donation with a credit card or electronic cash, including from abroad.

Responded (took the details): 26 people Helped
: 26 people
Collected: UAH 539,000 08/13/2018 Kristina Chepukhina successfully completed cochlear implantation at Asibadem Bodrum Clinic (Turkey).


A cochlear implant was implanted in the girl’s right ear, a device that receives and recognizes electromagnetic signals from a speech processor attached to the outside. The operation was successful. All sensors gave positive "feedback", the implant is connected. Now Christina will do a lot, learn to hear and speak !!!
Here is what Irina, Christina’s mother, writes to us: “On Wednesday, August 8, we had an implant. The operation and the postoperative period went perfectly, without complications! All day after the operation, Christina slept. She has been in a great mood since Thursday. We walked around the clinic and along the seafront. Today we were connected, a representative of the Medel company came in person. My daughter is still confused. But we are sure that this is just the beginning. Impression from the clinic, the staff is great! Kindness and friendliness, attention about and without, doctor’s advice at any time of day. We did not find any disadvantages. Only positive impressions. To be honest, I don’t really want to go home.
We thank everyone who took part in the fate of our daughter, thus giving her the opportunity to hear. Special thanks to Ufond and the Relief Foundation simply for their fundraising and support at all stages. Also, thank you to all the staff and staff of the Acibadem Clinic. ”

Friends, accept our gratitude! We will continue to follow the fate of Christina. TREATMENT PAID Collected - UAH