Viktoriya is on the Path to Healing

Like most teenage girls, Viktoriya enjoys reading, painting and chatting with friends online. Despite facing challenges due to a disability, she approaches life with bravery and tenacity, and lives near our Ternopil site in Ukraine.  

When she was still little, her parents noticed she struggled with her mobility. A doctor confirmed she was born with a congenital abnormality in her skeletal system. She went through the first of eight surgeries at just seven months old. Walking short distances requires crutches, and she attends a school for children with special needs. She’s suffered, but keeps her head high. 

This past spring, she found out she would need one more surgery to lengthen her right leg. Though her parents didn’t have to pay for the surgery itself, there were several associated costs, including transportation and orthosis, a device to be inserted into her leg. 

When times get hard, we often have to look outward to find what we need. That’s exactly what Viktoriya’s mother, Nataliya, did.  

Knowing she couldn’t cover the costs on her own, she contacted the Ternopil site for help, and they put out a call for donations to fund the costs associated with surgery.   

It didn’t take long for Chalice donors to step up. Support rushed in, and her parents received everything they needed to take care of Viktoriya. She had surgery in the spring, and is keeping her right leg straight for the time being.  

She can move around on crutches and a walker, and while she waits to heal, she’s reading and chatting with friends. 

Not long ago, Viktoriya’s surgeons asked her what she was excited about when she could walk without help, and the response rolled off her tongue: wearing a pair of white sneakers. 

Knowing it would encourage her while she healed, her parents went out and bought her very own pair of white sneakers.  

“We thank Chalice for helping us serve our people in the time of suffering to bring them relief,” writes Luba, site director for our Ternopil site.