“Only here we saw real interest”: a child with cerebral palsy learns to live thanks to the Eva Center

In the massage room, covered with tiles - soft light and warm air. If you close your eyes, only the rustle of gentle hands on the skin and the slight creak of the massage table catches the ear. Sometimes wheezing and grunting are heard. Their source is a small patient of the Center for Inclusion and Correction, Eva.

Olya is 7 years old. At her age, she could have completed the first grade, but, unfortunately, fate decreed otherwise. Olya has a severe form of cerebral palsy. Excessive muscle tone almost constantly keeps the girl’s body in an arc from the heels to the back of the head, and her limbs stretched like strings. She does not sit, does not talk, and has only recently learned to focus her eyes on people and objects.

In 2020, there were 12.6 thousand children with cerebral palsy in Ukraine. It is impossible to cure him. With such a form as Olya’s, the life of a child and his parents turns into an almost hopeless struggle. Almost modern techniques and regular classes make it possible to turn the sentence into a challenge and at least make life a little easier for the family. This is what today’s story of the Flow Fund is about. We recorded it in March right during the next session of therapeutic massage.

Recognize trouble early

“In six months, we noticed that something was wrong, - speaks Ekaterina, Olya’s motherwhile the masseuse gently rubs her girl’s tummy. - This is my first child, so at first I was not very oriented about what was normal and what was not. Only when my husband and I realized that Olya did not hold her head normally, we went to Okhmatdyt for a checkup. And there they tell us with surprise: yes, the girl has cerebral palsy.”

The woman recalls: the birth was difficult. Immediately after birth, the baby did not scream, which is why the brain probably received less oxygen. In the first days, the girl began to have epileptic seizures. Doctors prescribed a heavy course of antibiotics. A month later, Ekaterina and Olya were discharged, but they did not say anything about the diagnosis.

A young family is faced with a whirlpool of information in which it is difficult to single out the main thing. Especially if the child is sick. Olya had a severe allergic reaction - after breastfeeding, her skin turned red-orange and flaky. But at the clinic, the parents were initially told to apply for disability. It was impossible to work with cerebral palsy: with such skin, massages and pools were closed for Olya. For three months, Ekaterina and her husband went through all the circles of hell, until the girl was finally helped at the Institute of Allergology.

After that, the parents began to take their daughter to different courses. They changed more than one center and not one doctor. “Unfortunately, there are places where you pay money, take care of children, but nothing happens from this,” Catherine admits.

“Eva” - a new hope

Olya’s parents learned about the Center for Inclusion and Correction “Eva” through acquaintances. For several years now, children have been rehabilitated free of charge here after oncology treatment, they help children with cerebral palsy, ASD, Down syndrome and other complex diagnoses. It finances the activities of the Flow Fund. For the first time, Olya began taking a course at the end of 2021. The team of “Eva” actively took up the girl, including coach-rehabilitologist Maxim and masseuse Alena.

“It was only here that I saw real interest. After all the past experience, we are very close to the Center, says Ekaterina.

The occupation was interrupted by a full-scale invasion, but in the fall of 2022, Ekaterina and Olya resumed regular visits to Eva. Twice a week - swimming pool, massage and gentle physical therapy. We started working on the maximum load to see the result, then we switched to support. It is not advisable to overload, so as not to tire the girl.

Mom noticed the effect soon. “The child cannot say anything. Therefore, we see all the changes from the outside. Firstly, after regular classes in the pool and massage, the head and neck began to work better. Secondly, sleep, food and toilet normalized, ” Catherine explains.

Cerebral palsy in severe form entails a huge muscle tone. As Olya’s mother says, the girl’s body is usually curved backwards, twisting it. Overstressed muscles create problems in the functioning of internal organs - and Olya, due to antibiotic poisoning after birth, already has a disturbed intestinal microflora. If something is not digested and does not work out, you can forget about sleep. Because of this, the girl cries a lot - this is almost her only way to signal discomfort. Only systematic professional work with the body can improve the situation. “And here the golden hands of the massage therapist are already working,” Catherine says.

After the first weeks of classes, Olya began to sleep on her back. It is easier to put on, because it became possible to bend the handles. A very big result - the eyes and focus began to work. Olya can already turn her head, reacts to the voice and smiles around. Especially, says my mother, she reacts to the voices of grandmothers, rejoices in them.

The girl really actively turns her head while the masseuse Alena passes her arms and legs. Olya stops with her eyes on those present, looks intently. Her breathing is heavy, hoarse, sometimes turning into grunting and coughing, similar to expectoration.

“It’s not because of the lungs, - as if reading our thoughts Katerina. - She has a very tight throat, so the air passes through the respiratory tract. But when he falls asleep, he relaxes and breathes calmly and evenly.

Two years ago, the family saw that Olya’s right thigh began to bulge strongly. It turned out that the daughter had a congenital dislocation in the pelvis. Alena shows an x-ray: it clearly shows that the femur is separate from the pelvis. The operation is possible, but it will be very traumatic for the girl, with a difficult rehabilitation period. Another alternative is massage. Thanks to him, the bone slowly falls into place.

Happiness loves silence

Olya undergoes regular examinations, including those of the brain. According to Ekaterina, an independent doctor analyzed the electroencephalogram and said that the dynamics remain positive. The girl gradually controls her movements. Before, when her nose itched, she would either wince or look for something to rub it on. One day, her mother, holding her in her arms, noticed that Olya was stretching her fingers to her nose. For her, this is a huge achievement.

“Thanks to the Center, we were able to reduce the amount of painkillers, says Ekaterina. - I am already starting to work. I understand that more and more, instead of a pill, I can do exercises, a warm bath, twist and knead to make Olya feel better.

He is very supported at the Center: Maxim studies new techniques, suggests home exercises, Alena shares her best practices.

“I don’t advertise the results very much, because happiness loves silence, - says Alena. - We have been moving towards this for a long time. Olya, in principle, did not relax, and we could only help a little at first. Drop by drop, she got used to it and began to let go of the tension. Now she can even fall asleep during the massage.

Although the massage looks light, Olya’s muscles are working to the fullest at this moment. Along with stimulation, salts are displaced, decay products help the body with what it cannot do on its own. Alena seeks to delay the onset of kinesis - reactions of the nervous system, when the body responds to touch with motor reactions. The goal is to remove them altogether. At the beginning of rehabilitation, they began at the 12-13th minute of the massage. While we’re talking, the massage is over the 30 minute mark.

All Olya’s progress is the result of hard work. Not only Eva, but also parents. In her views on classes with children, Alena is categorical: “The problem is that doctors, when they make a diagnosis, do not teach parents how to deal with such a child. Cerebral palsy is work that is possible only through joint efforts.”

After the massage, Ekaterina thanks her, dresses her daughter with habitual movements, picks her up in her arms and says goodbye. Today and the coming days will be calmer for the family. Alena shows Olya’s pictures a little more and sees us off: the next little patient is already waiting for her hands and skills.

PS Two months later, Olya learned to move independently with one arm and more actively moves with one leg. Demonstrates emotion more clearly. The greatest achievement for the entire time of combining massage and swimming pool - for the first time, my mother was able to put Olya on her lap, and in this position the girl was able to stay for a short period of time. In general, during the period of training, Olya’s muscles became more elastic and pliable to work. The metabolism has perked up and the girl copes without medical help.