Help Ilya to get SDR surgery

Hi, my name is Elena:

 

As a mother desperate to help her child I am forced to turn to you all. My son, Ilya Butorin, has Cerebral Palsy. His issues started at birth but, unfortunately, were not diagnosed until he was 6 months of age. Cerebral Palsy is an acquired disease that can be caused by many factors, including a mother’s intense stress during pregnancy. This was the case in Ilya’s birth, which came two days after the unexpected death of a dear friend and 31 weeks premature. His lungs weren’t fully developed, causing cerebral hypoxia, which killed his brain cells and led to Cerebral Palsy.

 

Now, at 7 years old, he is still fighting for some sense of normalcy. A successful surgery has helped him to ward off deformities in his arms and legs and, thanks to years of ongoing physical therapy, he can walk with the support of a walker and move freely in a wheelchair. But he still suffers from muscle spasms that can only be alleviated by medical injections that last, at most, six months and lose effectiveness over time.

The solution to this problem is a selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) surgery, which will solve the problem with spasticity forever! This is great news and a huge chance for Ilya. The doctors believe that with this surgery Ilya will be able to walk on his own using only canes!

 

Not a wheelchair. Not a walker with support. Canes!

 

An SDR surgery is the only way to help. The operation is a spinal cord surgery and there are a lot of nuances and complications that must be taken into account. The method for the surgery was developed by Dr. Park, who has since conducted almost 5,000 of these operations over the last 30 years with great success. He works in the St. Louis Children's Hospital in St. Louis, USA, and is the only doctor today with so much experience. Dr. Park is very selective in the candidates for the surgery. Only after examining records, watching videos, and looking at the child in motion does he make a decision on whether to move forward with the surgery.

 

After passing through two stages of selection, 2 months later we received a bill for the amount of $46,250.00 USD. This does not include additional costs like the roundtrip airfare from Russia, visas, accommodations, meals, and transfers. Dr. Park recommends Ilya have the operation before the age of 8 since the older the child, the longer the recovery process.

 

Ilya is also hoping to attend school next year. We have great faith and hope that he will be able to go to a regular school, as he is a very intelligent and capable boy and we want the very best for him in life. If he does not receive the surgery, however, he won’t be able to attend such schools near us as they are not equipped for wheelchairs.

 

For our family, the amount of money billed for the operation is unaffordable. My husband works but I’m unable to as I must tend to Ilya all the time - hospital visits, classes, rehabilitation, etc. But even if I were working, we wouldn't be able to pay for it ourselves. All of our income goes to Ilya's rehabilitation. I beg you to help Ilya to get surgery. Please give him a chance for a healthy full life, childhood, and future without pain or limitations!

 

You can follow Ilya's daily progress and updates on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/butorin_ilyusha/ .

More English content is coming.