Survivor Vadim

This baby suffered a terrible infection, a medical mistake, an artificial one ... He defeated death, but now the boy and his parents need to help live with it

Help I believe in a miracle help

The city is bright, which is 30 kilometers from Kaliningrad, it does not look light at all. Gray two -story houses, ghosts of sidewalks, raw land mixed with snow - a courtyard football platform. On the site, the boys drive the ball, among them - the six -year -old Danka, the eldest son of Ani and Dima Schneiders.

The youngest, Vadim, in his two years, too, could already run after the ball. So far, he can only turn over in bed or “swing on fists” in a special pose for training balance under the sensitive supervision of parents. But this was not always the case.

The coveted second boy was born on time and absolutely healthy, developed at normal, was only ill with a light cold, which his brother brought from the kindergarten. Parents made plans for the summer, dreamed of vacation in Turkey, where their boys would sunbathe and swim in a large warm sea, shot videos and photos for the family archive.

One morning, the temperature rose at a ten -month Vadik. Anya, who knows the symptoms and manifestations of ordinary ailments from experience, immediately became agitated: the baby behaved strangely, lingered his eyes, the medicines did not help. Without waiting for an ambulance (too long), the parents themselves took the baby to an infectious hospital in Kaliningrad. On the road, the child began to convuls, he lost consciousness.

Anna carries Vadim to the kitchen to feed the photo: Stanislav Novgorodtsev for TD

Vadim was immediately sent to intensive care, as luck would have it, everything happened on the weekend, for several days the child lay with a diagnosis of enterocolitis. Anya offended the rapids of the residential, trying to prove to the doctors: there is some kind of mistake. The child became worse and worse, antibiotics treatment did not give an effect. Finally, the attending physician caused his parents and without ceremony said that the baby had either a severe stroke or herpetic meningoencephalitis. "Pray for it to be a stroke."

Now Anya recalls this evening calmly - working with a psychologist helped.

“Naturally, we were in shock. I was allowed for a short time in intensive care, the child was unconscious, all in wires, in instruments. I sobbed. The doctor poured terms, talked about serious brain lesions, about edema. I almost understood nothing, I just asked my son to be saved. Then my husband and I got out of the hospital, got into the car and just drove around the city in circles - they couldn’t do anything else. ”

Circles of medical hell

The next morning, the tests confirmed herpetic meningoencephalitis. Doctors predicted a fatal outcome by 95 %. In the case of the remaining 5 % - "vegetable for life."

Anya and Dima have achieved the transfer of her son to the regional hospital - there was no longer any trust in doctors who treated the child who died from Enterocolite. In the intensive care of the regional hospital, they warned that Vadim had a peak of brain edema and whether he would come down or not, life depends. Parents came every day, sat under the door of resuscitation. Anya went to the church, to clairvoyants, as she knew how to, she prayed herself. A few days later Vadim came into consciousness.

“He was absolutely ordinary, smiled, recognized me, tried to pull out probes, quickly began to get up and sit down, his right hand earned. Only the paresis of the facial nerve remained, but for us it was a drop in the sea after all that was bred for us. The son was transferred to the box office, where we lay for two weeks under the droppers. ”

Anna photo: Stanislav Novgorodtseva for TD

Then Anya seemed that the worst was behind, her strong boy coped, now they would take up rehabilitation and will soon forget about this nightmare forever. On the eve of Vadim’s discharge, a subclavian catheter was removed. Pus went from the wound.

Anya, a nurse in first education, well understood that this should not be. But she was reassured, the wound was treated with green, and she and Vadim were sent to the ward.

By evening, Vadim had a temperature, convulsions began. The child writhed in pain, cried. Doctors put an epistatus and again took the boy into intensive care. To play it safe, he was immediately inserted by the tracheostom and probe. The convulsions did not stop, then it was decided to introduce the child into an artificial one.

On this, perhaps, the medical part of the story ends and the long struggle of the two young parents for the life of their child and against the system begins.

He heard mom

Vadik lay in a coma for almost a month - convulsions did not pass, he slowly died, regional specialists could not do anything. The institutes and clinics of Moscow and St. Petersburg refused to accept the child. Three times Anya was called to say goodbye, they said that the baby would not live until the morning. For the third time, Anya refused to go to the intensive care unit: “I knew that my son would live. I felt it. "

Finally, the Polenov St. Petersburg Institute agreed to accept Vadim. For transportation with the Ivl apparatus, the Board of the Ministry of Emergencies was needed. Anya and Dima did the impossible - they found a plane.

Vadim (in the foreground) photo: Stanislav Novgorodtsev for TD

In the hospital of the institute, Vadim lay a month and a half. He found blood clots in the cervical veins-it was because of them that the child could not get out of a coma and stop his convulsions. The blood clots were removed, but after the operation the intestines stood up, internal bleeding opened. Anya still repeated to the doctors: "My son will live."

Vadim heard his mother. He was taken from anesthesia into a vegetative state. Doctors looked at the images of MRI and were surprised how you could survive with such defeats. Vadim has become for them a unique object for observation.

Celebrities involuntarily

Home, in the bright, Vadim was brought with tracheostoma and probes. In the hospital, on the run, they showed how to clean, but dozens of questions immediately arose at home. The center “Believe in the Miracle” and its palliative care service came to answer them. Anya turned to the center herself - she perfectly understood how much effort, resources and knowledge would be needed by the family to cope with this test. And the most valuable of these resources were experience and psychological support.

“The center’s specialists immediately paid attention to the details: much of what I did in the hospital turned out to be wrong. For example, catheters should be thrown away after cleaning, and we were given only two in the intensive care unit, and we washed them. The center also taught me to change and clean probes, in general, everything that was associated with the border state is the care of the tracheostoma, the portable aspirator is their merit. Our local doctors who were obliged to visit have never seen the child with the tracheostoma. ”

Vadim photo: Stanislav Novgorodtseva for TD

Vadik, “packaged” by the center in modern equipment, and his parents advanced in matters of palliative departure quickly became celebrities in the local hospital. When a child with a portable aspirator was brought to an X -ray and Anya and Dima were independently cleaned with the tracheostom, all doctors and nurses were going to look at this procedure.

Anya explains: “We began to do everything clearly and quickly and not to breed suffering also because from the first days after discharge we studied with a psychologist from the center. The husband talked once, and he had enough - he was less emotional, more practical: he received a list of actions and tuned in to work. I had different periods - from complete despair and powerlessness to acute attacks of fear of the future. The thought was especially scared: “What will happen to Vadim if we cannot care for him or will not become?” The psychologist helped me a lot. Yes, this does not happen fast, and one day a miracle does not happen. But daily exercises, control of their emotional state over time give the strength to live. Now, communicating in the center with parents who only faced a similar situation, I immediately say: “Go to a psychologist.” This is your first support and - which is very important - communication with a person who understands you. Because after such stories, your usual circle of friends and acquaintances, most likely, will no longer be the same. ”

Little fighter

The reaction of others was different. Many advised to abandon the child. Anya does not condemn anyone: parents should make a decision to fight or not. “Everyone chooses his own path. I can understand people who refuse sick children. This is hellish work, and it can only be transferred to a full family. When husbands leave with the words “I don’t need a fool” - this is terrible and it almost does not leave a woman a chance to cope with the situation. Our husband pulled everyone. While the son was in intensive care, he turned gray. But together we managed, and now for us the main thing is that Vadik lives - albeit with severe neurological defeats. It is still very small, it is quickly restored, and medicine is not on the spot. No one knows what will happen. We hope and believe that our fighter will surprise everyone. ”

Anna, Danya and Vadim on a walk photo: Stanislav Novgorodtseva for TD

The fighter Vadik was removed from the tracheostom not so long ago. Anya taught him to eat - so far only food and nutritious mixtures ground in a blender. But Vadik is already strictly in the clock requires feeding and persistently “buzzes” in her chair while mom is preparing food.

They walk a lot, go to the country - Vadim likes to drive in the car. On a walk, passers -by do not notice that Vadik is special - he does not have pronounced external defeats, except that a defocated look and a scar from tracheostoma. But Anya’s questions, of course, are regularly asked.

In August, the center organized for wards of families with children a trip to sea, to a boarding house in the village of Yantarny. Anya and Dima laugh: “When our detachment“ fell out ”on the beach, people were in shock. We have the most special children - there are heavy forms of cerebral palsy. We walked like aliens, everyone looked at us, some shunned. And only a couple of elderly Germans in the neighborhood did not even pay attention - they calmly continued to swim. ”

The work of the Center for Socialization of families with children with disabilities is difficult to overestimate. For several years, changes are obvious. The next step is the discovery of the hospice.

Anna, Danya and Vadim on a walk photo: Stanislav Novgorodtseva for TD

“We are waiting for the hospice as a manna heavenly. Now it’s not scary to leave Vadim for several days. It can be fed normally, he smiles, plays, you need to give medicine in time - that's all. And the hospice, where there are qualified personnel, is an ideal place. And no matter what parents will spend the free time on. This does not concern anyone. I honestly can say that I love my special child, but I also love myself, both my husband and the eldest son. Vadim is for my whole life, and so that I have the strength to help him, I have to relax at least a few days a year. Remember: a bad mother is not the one that leaves the child in the hospice for a week and goes on vacation, but the one who puts his health and psyche and risks the prosperity of the whole family. ”

Fortunately, Kaliningraders have the center “I believe in a miracle”, there is a palliative care service “Fruppolo House”, which means there is hope for the hospice. They have already done a huge job, radically changing the attitude of the townspeople to seriously ill children. Parents who help the center become not only his wards, but also part of the team. Anya says: “We are already doing a lot ourselves. We have a group of parents, we find and bring good specialists for diagnosis and rehabilitation. Our children began to see, we began to walk around the city. After all, we are the closest to Europe, let the culture of inclusive society begin with us. ”

Dima supports: “Stigmatization of sick people is a relic of the Soviet past, in which there were no disabled people or alcoholics, only exemplary citizens. Parents who write complaints at the school that their healthy child receives a “psychic injury” from communication with a special classmate, just never thought that their life is God forbid, but still it could change in an instant. We want families in which there are special children to live fully - as much as possible. For this, funds, hospices, parents' associations, joint trips are needed. For this we are fighting. Well, and I personally would have reached the fact that medical errors would not remain unpunished. ”

Anna, Danya and Vadim on a walk photo: Stanislav Novgorodtseva for TD

Screams come from the street - Danka scored a goal. Anya wakes Vadim - time to take medicines and do exercises. Vadik puffs sleepily on a game rug. These guys have no time to relax and despair. And there is no need - so they decided for themselves. Having passed through all the circles of hell, they remained a family, the team-three strong men and their beauty-mother Anya.

In the summer, they still dream of going on vacation to Turkey. Anya will put on the best dress, Dima will swim and play with Danka in football. And Vadik will continue to engage in a game therapist, watch cartoons, sleep on a convenient functional bed under the supervision of an experienced nanny in the Fruppolo House, which will never become a terrible hospice, but will definitely be a cozy house and great help from special - amazing - families.

Please arrange a monthly donation! We will rejuvenate the work of the palliative care service “Fruppolo's House”!