Sick children and their parents often contact us when they are having tough times. Often the pictures for the articles are taken inside the cheerless hospital rooms. Some of the children we can only see in such sad surroundings... save perhaps the hospital park... And how nice it is to get a chance to see them at home, surrounded by their loving family...
The first picture of Kosheva Natasha was taken by her mother with a cell phone camera at the neonatal intensive care unit. The little girl was taken there not long after she was born. Her condition was very grave and unstable. The doctors just looked down or simply told the parents that they shouldn't get their hopes up. For five long months Natasha's doctors and parents fought for her life! And now I am sitting in a cozy room in their appartment, and next to me there is a crib with this little girl, her parents' princess, cheerfully waving her hands.
Taras, her father, picks the baby up, kisses her, and a smile lights up her face. She also smiles when he throws her up and catches.
Probably, Natasha feels that her father's arms are strong and reliable! That's why she is not afraid, when he spins her around, she just smiles joyfully. And Taras smiles too. He is happy to have all his family, all his princesses at home with him at last. To be able to kiss, hug and play with his little daughter as much as he likes.
Taras and Gulnora are really rich parents. Natasha is their third daughter. The oldest, Nargiza, is 15 years old. She is an artist, a good swimmer and her parents are very proud of her. Two years ago she won the first prize in the international children's drawings competition dedicated to the Second Word War. She was invited to the award ceremony to the Duma, the Russian parliament house. Gulnora proudly shows Nargiza's diplomas and paintings. “She is a really good student too... She attends an ordinary state school... Even though she barely hears anything...” - Taras tells us in a very simple way. Yes, his oldest princess's hearing is poor. But the family doesn't see it as a tragedy... and take pride in her achievements. And really, Nargiza is her mother's best helper. While Gulnora was in the hospital with Natasha, Nargiza did all the housework and looked after her other sister. And now she helps her mother to babysit Natasha a lot.
- When I was in the hospital with Natasha, I saw so many abandoned children! - tells us Gulnora, - And the families are non-needy, and the parents are both well educated people, but when they find out that their child may end up with a disability, they don't want him anymore... They are afraid of hardships, they are ashamed... Of course, it's not up to me to judge them, but... this is so strange! It is your child! Who cares what the doctors are saying now? What matters is what you two believe in! If you believe, you will fight, and your child will have a normal future. And if you leave him there, in the hospital, unwanted — will he?
Yes, Natasha's parents have a very strong faith in her. And they are fighting for her and for her future! The critical period is in the past, but now they are facing the recovery phase which is just as hard and exhausting. The girl is still breathing through a tube in her trachea, eats through a feeding tube, can't turn in bed without help... in general, she is still unable to do many things that children in her age usually do. But, at the same time, she has her own victories and achievements. And the family keeps fighting. A rehabilitator visits her reguralry and her parents look after their little princess.
Now the main task is to teach the girl to swallow. All her life she has been eating through a feeding tube, so she doesn't know what it means — to eat by herself. When Natasha learns how to swallow, they will procede to the next recovery stage — to take the tube out of her trachea. For now the tube stays... and the parents have to take the mucus out of her lungs with a special device every three hours. And it is also very important to monitor her gaining weight. They can't go to the hospital for the weighing, because her immune system is weak, and any infection, even the most harmless, can do a gread damage. That's why Gulnora asks for help in buying children's scales to be able to weigh Natasha at home. Maybe some of our readers still have children's scales at home which they aren't using any more? This family needs them very much!
I was leaving the house of the Koshevy family with a smile. It is so wonderful to see Natasha at home (at home even the walls help, they say), surrounded by loving family members. It was very nice to talk to the parents who are fighting for a notmal life for their special girls and don't think of it as of a great burden. And of course it was wonderful to see Natasha on the way to recovery despite all the dire forecasts. I know that this family still has a long and hard way lying ahead of them, that will take a lot of patience, persistence and faith in order to give Natasha a start in life. But I also know that the parents are ready to walk this way. For their daughter... for their little princess!
