Hi, my name is Julie, and I’m fundraising for my dearest school friend Ksenia.

The expensive machine that helps my friend Ksenia breathe at night broke during evacuation from the war in Ukraine.

Ksenia has been paralyzed since 2000, which makes it hard to do any major movements around the country and beyond. She is an incredible strong girl, who’s taste for life, kindness and joy enlightens everyone around her.

Here is an open letter from her to you:

Hey, my name is Kseniya and I'm Ukrainian

Perhaps you heard about the war in Ukraine, and how Russia vilely and treacherously attacked my country, but I would like to talk about another part of my life.

Let's go back to the year 2000. When I was 14 years old, I was a ballet dancer with the Odessa Opera and Ballet theater. I am very proud of this period in my life, and that year I had the coolest summer.

But this summer also brought a lot of “lasts” into my life. It was the last summer I could dance; the last summer I swam in the sea; the last summer I could jump, run, hug my family and friends, and live as most people on our planet live.

Because on August 8 of the same year, something went wrong...

My brother, cousin, and I had gone to the recreation center for one last get away before the school year. As we were going to go home, although I really didn’t want to, I decided to jump into a pool that was only deep enough for rolling down water slides.

I stood in front of the pool, looked at the water, and the thought flashed through my head: "Ksyusha, you can break your head!" I hesitated for a long time whether to jump or not, and yet I dived.

I didn't feel any pain or fear, I just felt a thud, saw the blue tiles at the bottom of the pool and thought, "Is this heaven?" There was absolutely no panic, utter serenity and incomprehension of what happened and where I am.

By some miracle, I began to float to the surface of the water and small waves coming from the children in the pool were able to turn me on my side so that I could breathe. A miracle because then I could no longer move my arms and legs. At that moment, I remembered where I was and what had happened to me.

Once on my side, I saw my brother and immediately called out to him. He ran up, pulled me out of the pool and called for help.

A crowd immediately gathered around me. Everything after that was like a blur. Our friends ran up to me, they asked what happened, they were told that I had jumped into the pool. They asked me if I could feel my legs or arms, I said no, and they looked at each other, I didn’t understand then what was wrong with that.

Then it became harder for me to breathe, I screamed that I didn’t want to die, but my brother and sister were constantly there, they said that everything would be fine.

An ambulance came, gave me a shoulder injection, and I awoke on a gurney with my Dad walking next to me, tears running down his cheeks; I had never seen my Father cry before. He noticed that I opened my eyes and tried to say something to him, but some kind of tube in my mouth really bothered me. He said that they brought me to the hospital, and that now everything would be fine. I again fell into a dream.

They put me in intensive care. The first hours were the most important after the injury, it was necessary to stop the edema, which increased every minute in the spinal cord. And only one medicine could help with this! 20 years ago it was in short supply, it was very difficult to buy in pharmacies, so they collected it all over the city milliliter by milliliter.

In just a couple of hours ago I’d gone from jumping, dancing, and enjoying life to lying in motionless desperation in an Intensive Care Unit.

For the first few months, my life hung in the balance, bolts were screwed into my head to pull out the vertebrae, a tube was inserted into the trachea and connected to a breathing apparatus, because I could not breathe on my own, catheters for feeding, and IVs. I was on full life support.

And so my new life began...

It’s even hard for me to imagine what was going on in my parents’ souls then ... Moreover, they are doctors. They know the severity of a spinal fracture and spinal cord contusion. They know that only a few survive with such an injury, and that it requires lifelong medical supplies.

I have shared my story with you because I need your help, dear friends!

The ventilator I used to ensure I keep breathing when I am sleeping is more than 30 years old. I use it only at home, as it is stationary and not intended for moving. When the war started, we were forced to leave our house with this apparatus. During the move, it was damaged and now it does not work the way it used to.

The war has skyrocketed prices all over the world, and made special medical equipment hard to come by, especially inside Ukraine. These circumstances have pushed the cost of this life-saving machine to $20,000. Luckily, we have found a battery-powered machine in our hometown, and since it is mobile, we can again move to a safer place while this war rages on. We ask that if you can contribute in any way, please help my family and I regain our peace of mind while I sleep, and move from the unsafe area of Ukraine in which we now live.