Rehabilitation for Little Fighter- Artem Taranenko
About this project
We have commenced a new fundraising campaign to support Artem Taranenko, an 8 year old boy from Kherson, Ukraine. Artem has been diagnosed with hypoxic encelopathy, spastic quadriplegia and hydrocephaly with subsequent severe developmental delays. We are raising a total of AUD 2,700 to cover the cost of a one-month course of rehabilitation at the Amicus centre in Warsaw, Poland. The rehabilitation is scheduled for the 7 July 2018.
Artem was a healthy, thriving infant until a tragic accident that happened when he was just 16 months old. Artem chewed on a washcloth with a cleaning substance that resulted in burns to his oesophagus. He had to have complex treatment and showed steady recovery. Artem was soon able to drink water and eat his favourite porridge. He was once again running around, talking and feeling well. Nobody could have imagined that only a month after the seemingly resolved health issue, Artem’s oesophagus will rupture during the scheduled gastroscopy, dividing his life into “before” and “after”.
After an urgent surgery, Artem remained in a coma and spent 5 days in intensive care unit with breathing support. He developed severe complications including pneumonia, cerebral oedema and pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial infection.
Artem spent the next 3.5 months at the resuscitation department of the Kherson hospital, enduring several surgeries including repair of the oesophagus, tracheostomy, VP shunting and subsequent revision of the shunt. He then spent several months in the neurology department, where the little fighter has surprised the doctors by regaining his ability to drink, despite the prognosis that he will remain on tube-feeding. A month later, the doctors have removed tracheostomy tube.
After receiving regular courses of rehabilitation, Artem began to swallow independently and hold his head. He is once again reacting to light and sounds and showing some basic reflexes. There is acquired movement in legs and hands. The little boy is making eye contact and is responding with his eyes to the yes/no questions. He is making tiny but steady steps towards recovery.
Please support Artem and his family in this very difficult battle and help us raise the required funds towards the course of specialised rehabilitation for him.
To make a donation, please transfer money to our PayPal account with a reference “Artem”.
