Help Marc escape medical harm and survive very severe ME

Marc Shcherbatko is a 21-year-old from Kharkiv, Ukraine, living with very severe ME/CFS - a debilitating neurological disease that has left him completely bedbound, with extreme exhaustion, pain, and severe sensitivity to light, sound, and movement.

Marc was an aspiring doctor when he developed Long Covid in 2020. Despite wanting to continue with his studies, his health began to decline and eventually, he was expelled. He had to return to Kharkiv, now a frontline town, where the stress of living under constant shelling and bombardment worsened his condition. Initially, Marc could still work from his bed a couple hours a day, he tried to volunteer and pursued drawing, but it was taking a lot out of him. He continued to deteriorate. He was hospitalized several times, which only worsened his condition. Medical staff forced him to walk, shouted at him and berated him for his “laziness”.

Currently, Marc is no longer able to care for himself. He struggles to walk and communicate. He’s entirely dependent on his single mother, who doesn’t have the means to keep supporting him financially, or to provide round the clock care. Distraught by Marc’s decline and running out of options, his mother has brought him to a mental hospital, where he was coerced into signing himself in. His eye and ear protection has been taken away and he is being forced to walk.

He has daily PEM and is declining further. Neither the hospital staff nor his family understands the danger he’s in. We’re hoping this fundraiser will allow him to gain some independence from his mother, cover the cost of living, and get better medical care. We’re attempting to enlist the help of an ME specialist to change the mother’s mind and speed up his release from the hospital. Furthermore, a medical intervention is needed to stop Marc’s deterioration.

Marc urgently needs competent medical care and a safer, more stable environment.

Your donation will support:

Daily living expenses

Home care services

Online consultation with a ME-friendly immunologist from Lviv (1550 грн/$38 per consult)

Medication

ME/CFS is a serious neurological disease, and it has been recognized as such by the WHO since 1969. Severe ME/CFS can be life-threatening. This fundraiser was organized by the Severe ME Advocacy group. The following document

contains a directory of resources for people with ME/CFS who are at risk of involuntary hospitalization: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S2P5M57LUf-Pdkza0fO-UpshJbXYLG1q6CaV1ga7bPw/edit?usp=drivesdk