We would like to ask for your help in purchasing a gait trainer for five-year-old Veronika Sorokina from Kaliningrad, Russia.
As the result of a complications at birth, Veronika has cerebral palsy.
Veronika was a long-awaited baby. Her Mom Maria had an easy pregnancy but complications during Veronika’s
birth resulted in baby suffering asphyxia and spending 26 days in NICU. As the result, Veronika has cerebral palsy with double hemiplegia,
developmental delay and symptomatic partial epilepsy.
She has been through multiple courses of treatment and rehabilitation in various clinics. Her Mom refuses to believe
that treating her little girl is pointless despite refusals of several leading children’s hospitals in Russia including Russian Clinical
Children’s Hospital, Federal Center “Childhood”, Morozov Hospital in Moscow to treat her. In their native Kaliningrad, doctors suggested
to Maria that she should give Veronika up and institutionalize her. Despite all this, Maria believes that it is possible to help her
daughter and continues to fight for her daughter’s life and well-being every single day.
We could join many others who already turned down Maria’s requests for help but we decided to try our best and
help her and her little girl. A professor of neurology from Germany who has examined the girl believes that Veronika’s development will
significantly benefit from the use of a gait trainer and being in upright position.
Some people will say it is pointless to try and help Veronika as her condition cannot be improved.
However, we would like to ask you to read the letter from Maria and decide for yourself. We can also provide the copies of Veronika’s
medical records from the clinics where she had been treated to any potential doctors.
Here’s Maria’s letter:
“Only God knows what we had to go through with Veronika to get to where we are now. It took half a year to get rid
of kidney stones. Veronika was treated in Research Center in Solncevo, and then went through a course of treatment according to the method
of Dr. Skvortsov, eight courses of treatment in cerebral palsy rehabilitation clinic in Ukraine, and a course of acupuncture in China.
These treatments have helped Veronika and eliminated contractures. Veronika also receives physical therapy, and is improving slowly but surely.
She has received two courses of Adeli suit therapy in Slovakia. In addition to that, she is getting regular massages and chiropractic treatments.
Veronika has recently been examined in the clinic of Prof. Holthauzen, a well-known German neurologist. Prof. Holthauzen
recommends the use of the gait trainer to help her learn to walk (we have a copy of Prof. Holthauzen’s letter in which he expresses this opinion –
The Help Journal).
All our problems started with medical errors during Veronika’s birth. I can’t describe how much it hurts to me to imagine
that my girl could have been healthy – after all, she was born full term and with good weight. Right now, Veronika’s emotional development
is adequate, she has learnt to stand, to sit cross-legged for a few seconds on her own, to point to her mouth and nose, to pronounce sounds
and syllables. She reacts to speech and even tries to respond with sounds. Here’s a short video of Veronika during physical therapy.
It is very discouraging to me that federal children’s hospitals and treatment centers refuse to admit Veronika based only on
her medical records, without seeing and examining my daughter. Knowing that no one needs children like my daughter makes my heart ache.
After all, she is a kid like all others – she laughs, she feels happiness and sadness, and she wants to live. I would not be asking for
your help if I saw that the treatment was not working, but it is working – Veronika tries to communicate with other people and walk. Please,
help us come one step closer to fulfilling our dream of achieving mobility for Veronika. After all, movement means life, and we will
never give up! I will be grateful to you from the bottom of my heart for a chance and hope for my daughter’s recovery.
Sincerely,
Maria Sorokina, Veronika’s Mother.”
Veronika’s Mom is also trying to raise funds to continue Adeli suit therapy and Tomatis method therapy. She is asking
the Help Journal for help in purchasing a specialized gait trainer. Such devices are available in Russia but they are almost two times
less expensive in the USA.
January 4, 2013. Maria, Veronika's Mom, sent us a letter: “ Gait trainer is working well,
it is very comfortable and easy to use. Veronika needs to stand and walk, and she can’t do it without this device. Recently, Veronika
had myotomy, a surgery to relieve tension in muscles. For one month after surgery she was recovering, and now she needs to work even
harder to stretch her muscles and move. Thank you very much! Your help has been wonderful, without it we could never afford the gait
trainer. Now our biggest difficulties are in socialization. Government does nothing, and kids who can’t work are not accepted anywhere,
even in schools. I feel helpless. I just lost my job as I was taking too many sick days to care for Veronika. It is very difficult for
me to adapt to being unemployed.”
March 20, 2012. We have great news to share - we were able to purchase a gait trainer for Veronika in the United States. Few days ago,
it was delivered to Kaliningrad! Here is what Veronika's Mom wrote:
"We are overjoyed! The gait trainer is large and very sturdy. The size is perfect
for Veronika, and it should last her a long time. It works great and is very simple to use. Yesterday Veronika was just standing in it, and today
she was able to move in it a little. Slowly but surely! Dear Anna, we would like to send our heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped Veronika and
gave her the happiness of being able to stand and see the world just like everyone else does!"
We hope that the gait trainer will help with Veronika's rehabilitation and would like to thank everyone who took part in fundraising for Veronika.
We would like to ask for your help in purchasing a gait trainer for five-year-old Veronika Sorokina from Kaliningrad, Russia.
As the result of a complications at birth, Veronika has cerebral palsy. 
Some people will say it is pointless to try and help Veronika as her condition cannot be improved.
However, we would like to ask you to read the letter from Maria and decide for yourself. We can also provide the copies of Veronika’s
medical records from the clinics where she had been treated to any potential doctors. 