Constructive dream – Kommersant

Matrena Vasekina lives in Saratov with his mother and younger brother. The girl has severe scoliosis, she suffers from constant back pain, it is difficult to breathe, often dizzy. Neither massage, nor physiotherapy exercises, nor hard corset help. Matrena is growing rapidly now, curvature is enhanced and has already reached the 4th degree. We need an urgent operation that Moscow surgeons are ready to carry out using new technology. But the operation and a special metal structure for it are very expensive. It is difficult for Matrenina to even imagine such money.

In January, Matrena had a birthday.

– Nothing, he says, I do not need, no gifts! The best gift would be – the operation. It hurts, mom, I'm very tired, ”says Ella, Matrene's mother.

The teenager is already not easy. The body changes, the mood often changes, many questions appear: who am I, who will I become, how will I live when I grow up completely? It is even harder to accept the change when you were always healthy, and then suddenly fell ill. And Matrena was not just healthy, but also very active: she was engaged in sports acrobatics, drove on skates with a chockey brother and did not expect that one day she would be very painful to walk and even hard to sit.

At the age of 12, Matrena complained about her neck. The doctor advised sleeping on an orthopedic pillow. But the pain did not go away, the girl began to stoop, it was more and more difficult to sit in school lessons. The X-ray showed a darkening scoliosis of the 2-3rd degree. The girl carried out all the recommendations of doctors strictly. But neither therapeutic gymnastics, nor massage, nor a special corset helped. Matrena grew rapidly, and curvature increased no less rapidly. The left shoulder became noticeably higher than the right, the pain intensified, the deformed chest squeezed the lungs, breathing became harder. Doctors admitted that conservative treatment is ineffective, an operation is needed.

Previously, Matrena dreamed of being an artist. From the age of ten I went to an art school, participated in city competitions. In the classroom, diligently painted with pencils gypsum figures, jugs and vases, still lifes and flowers. But the girl wanted to start writing with oil. It is delicious – the paint lies on the canvas, like butter on a scrap of fresh bread. This is bright – the colors are mixed under the mastichin, creating the most unusual combinations of colors. But now, the joy of creativity inevitably mixes the pain in the back.

– It happens that he will come from school, take up the mastikhin, try on the canvas … But there is no strength to draw, and the head is spinning. It is more likely to lie down: when you lie, it is not so painful, ”says Ella.

Previously, Matrena often asked: “Probably, now I can not be an artist? Or can I? After all, you can also draw lying? « 

And then she stopped asking, closed, hid in baggy clothes, like a snail into a shell, often cried.

Matrena almost surrendered, but her mother – no. She desperately searched for treatment options, found information on the Internet about the metropolitan clinic, in which advanced methods of treatment of scoliosis are successfully used, and took her daughter for a consultation. By this time, Scoliosis in Matrena has already reached the 4th degree. The girl was carefully examined, and the surgeon said that he was ready to operate on her using the new VBT (Vertebral Body Tethering) technology, which will adjust the spinal deformation and at the same time maintain its mobility – after all, matryn is still growing. In addition, this technology is quite gentle: the operation does not require dissection of the back muscles, the recovery occurs faster, and after six weeks the girl will be able to live normally and move without pain. But since curvature is rapidly intensifying, the operation must be carried out as quickly as possible.

– After a trip to Moscow, Matrena seemed to come to life. She began to read on the Internet about operations according to such a technique, learned all the details, read the reviews of patients who have already installed a flexible structure, says Ella. “For several months now, one might say, he has been living with hope and dreams.

But so far this dream is unattainable for Matrena, because there is an operation of more than two million rubles. Her mother does not have that kind of money.

“Now, if I had already become an artist, you could sell my paintings and pay for the operation,” the girl thinks. “But I'm just learning.”

Oksana Pashina, Saratov region