Zivot bez kolica iznad svega

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My name is Jovana Ćutilo and I am twelve years old.
I was born on December 2, 1996 in Vrbas. My weight at birth was 3. 300 grams and I was a beautiful healthy baby and doctors gave me a grade AS 9/10 at birth. Everybody was happy about my arrival to this world, and especially my mother Dragana.

When I was three months old I received the first Di-Te-Per vaccine. After receiving it I have gotten high temperature which they could not lower not even with the use of injections, so I had to stay in Children’s hospital in Novi Sad. Since then all my health problems have started.

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When I was five months old at a control examination a hold up in development of motoric functions was established. They have put me on a neuro-stimulative treatment at the Physiatric Ward. Since then I have been continuously doing exercises and going to therapies. As I was falling behind children of the same age more and more, my parents took me to other health institutions.

When I was eleven months old I was given a final diagnosis “PARALYSIS CEREBRALIS INFANTILIS“. Since then I have started doing more serious exercises, which I used to do all day…

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The doctor said that if I started to crawl I would stand a chance of standing on my own two feet one day!

Once a year the medical board granted me with prolonged medical treatment using hydrotherapy in Kanjiža spa. There I spent most of the time in the pool which helped me a lot in strengthening the muscles.

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However in March and September 2001, they had to do corrective surgical procedures on Achille tendons both on left and right leg, and wearing a cast, and then a splint followed for several months, and then there was back to everyday exercises…

And while my friends were wearing sleepers I had to wear heavy orthopedic shoes…

In autumn 2002 after the medical board had decided that I was not falling behind children of the same age mentally wise, I started going to a regular pre-school institution in Zmajevo, although for not being able to move on my own I received the invitation to enroll the first grade of elementary school “Jovan Jovanović Zmaj” in 2004.

In the elementary school in Zmajevo, I have finished 1st and 2nd grade. I was surrounded with twenty or more friends, who were very good and carrying to me and helped me learn as the teacher did. However upon completing 2nd grade I could not follow the curriculum of regular school.

Therefore in autumn 2006 I transferred to Elementary School for children with special needs “Milan Petrović” in Novi Sad to the class for physically disabled persons. There I acquired new friends with problems similar to mine and I started attending a program adapted to my needs.

That winter I experienced sharp pain in my hips. X-ray revealed that due to the great spasm in muscles, thy bones were about to be dislocated from sockets and that I was to expect hip dislocations. A new surgery was proposed to me.

They operated on me in January 2007 and it was rather painful and exhausting for all of us, and to make things even worse, the surgical procedure showed no result. After the extraction of foreign body in September 2007, my right leg remained bent and I cannot stand on it since then. Doctors were expecting another six similar surgical procedures…

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We tried to find help in Belgrade as well, in orthopedic – surgical hospital ‘’ Banjica ’’. I was received there in December 2008. due to necessary operational procedures. The doctors decided, prior to the operation, to try to straighten my right leg by Dysport injection. After a month, I was released from the hospital with the doctors’ recommendation to continue exercising in the clinic conditions.

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Neither therapies nor exercises helped me. When I started to lose hope that I will ever stand on my legs, we heard about Russian doctors who have been coming to Ćuprija. They are curing the people who have developed cerebralis paralysis by using a new laser technology and up to now, many children stopped using the wheel chair. After a long examination, they suggested me a range of operations and gave me hope for brighter future.

To my regret, these operations cost 2.650 euros, alongside other expences, and we do not have money for that. My mother and I live by very modest means, and my mother cannot work since she has to take care of me. Social benefits that I get are enough for my basic needs. Now, I can go around only in the wheel chair which is becoming too small for me, and in a three – year time I have a right to get another one by means of social insurance. I stay outside the house for a very little time period, because we do not have our own car, and I am very limited without the transportation vehicle.

By nature, I am a very cheerful child, I like to dance and sing, and above all, I like animals , especially cats and dogs. I would like one day to become a pet vet and to help them too.

Due to that, I kindly ask all people of good nature and with a big heart to help me get from the wheel chair so that my life could, at least in some segments, look like a life of the children of my age.