Multiple sclerosis has changed Yana Gracheva beyond recognition. Here she is, a graceful brunette, in a video from six years ago, dancing at a friends' wedding. And here she is, in February of this year - rejecting an incoming call because she can't answer it. Jana also can't get up on the bed, she has difficulty speaking and swallowing. Without help, she can't even sit in a wheelchair. Jana is only 41 years old. And although her condition is deteriorating at a catastrophic rate, it is possible to help.
Jana's illness first appeared almost 10 years ago, after the birth of her long-awaited and only daughter Paulie. At first, the young woman thought she had simply not recovered from childbirth. She was bothered by dizziness, tingling in her extremities, and sometimes a fog in her eyes. When Paula was 4 years old and she ran around the street at full capacity, Jana first felt weakness in her left leg, lost her balance and fell. That weakness never let her go again. It grew, forcing her to hold on to the walls. Jana stopped going outside.
Now her retired mother and daughter take care of her. They are Jana's legs and voice. The hope to put the dearest person in this family on her feet is so strong that they managed (by some miracle!) to get a ticket for a rehabilitation course at the Three Sisters rehabilitation center. Now Jana is already there: physiotherapists, masseurs and a speech therapist work with her, they teach her to cope with her illness, tiredness and pain.
"Three Sisters" is one of the best institutions in the country, getting into such a rehab center is great luck. But Yana is not enough for this course, she needs another one: to make her atrophied muscles feel needed again and start working. The second course cannot be paid by the MHI, and the family, which has been heavily depleted during the years of treatment, has no money for it.
It is in our power to support Yana. Rehabilitation gives her back her physical activity, slows down the progress of the disease and helps her to stay close to her mother and daughter, who need her so much. Let's support her!