The power of will. A little girl proves everyone that no disease should make us give up on life
Mia is a six years old girl with the prettiest big blue eyes. Although she has problems that are unbearable for most of us, her eyes are filled with optimism. The little girl was born in a poor family from a small village in the mountains. She is the youngest of the five children (three boys and two girls) in her family, but the most unlucky. Mia was born with hydrocephalus, a condition in which fluid accumulates in the brain, enlarging the head and sometimes causing brain damage.
In Romania, around 600 children are born each year with this condition and a part of them – after receiving the right treatment – recover extremely well and develop without a problem. Unfortunately, Mia is not in this situation. When she was born, she had a surgery, but the result was not the expected one.
“When she was born, we didn’t see Mia for a couple of days and after that, in the next months, the doctors kept telling us that she will die. She had an intervention and the doctors put a drain tube from her brain to her stomach, in order to clear the fluid from her brain. I don’t know whether they did something wrong in that intervention or not, but my little girl can’t feel anything from her waist down, not even when she needs to go to the toilet”, her father explains.
Six years later, the little girl is paralysed from the waist down and her legs are deformed, positioned outwards. Loud noises bother her deeply because of the pressure from her brain. Last year, overwhelmed by the problems, Mia’s mother left her and her family. Now, she is raised by her father – who also takes care of the other four children.
Even so, Mia’s faith in a brighter future can move mountains. She is a fighter and without any doubt the most optimistic girl ever. She is sociable, intelligent and has the power to fight her condition every day. She goes to kindergarten as often as she can and appreciates the company of her small little dog – Linda – that assists her every moment and keeps her company when her brothers or her father are busy. From 2013, Mia and one of her brothers are included in World Vision Romania “Child sponsorship programme” and she receives as much help as possible. Because she is dependant of diapers, but their income is lower than anyone can imagine, through Child sponsorship program she often receives diapers. With the help of her brother’s sponsor, her father received some construction materials and managed to repair the house and to build a sidewalk for Mia’s wheelchair.
Last year, through a programme in which World Vision Romania is partnering with USAID, Motivation Romania and Advancing Partners & Communities, Mia received a wheelchair to ease her access to the kindergarten and not only. This was her biggest problem – without it, she was unable to leave her home.
“It breaks my heart when I see how she crawls like a snake. Thanks to the wheelchair that we received, now she is able to get out, go to kindergarten and visit some friends”, her father said.
Moreover, thanks to World Vision's local fundraising efforts, last summer Mia received a washing machine that helps them very much. Even though he is a single parent with five children, he manages to keep their little house clean; this is very important because inside the house Mia doesn’t have space to use the wheelchair and, as her father sadly said, her only way is “to crawl”. She does this every time Radu, a little boy from the kindergarten that lives next door, comes to visit.
“Last time he brought me cake and it was delicious”, Mia remembers.