Fundraiser for London four-year-old with severe disabilities displaced from Ukraine (1)

A woman who fled war-torn Ukraine with her severely disabled four-year-old daughter is appealing for help with fundraising for therapies to improve her quality of life.

Mariia Lavruk, 47, who currently lives in Newham, arrived in London in August 2024.

‘Doctors suggested that I leave Emilia in the perinatal centre and told me she would never develop and would remain in a vegetative state. I refused. I believe this child chose me, and I could not abandon her. Emilia is a little warrior — she carries within her the strength and spirit of unbreakable Ukraine.

‘I was caring for Emilia alone around the clock, and over time my mental health deteriorated significantly. I developed severe depression and began antidepressant treatment. My elder daughter Karina, 27, who lives in London, became very worried about my condition and brought us to the UK so that we could be together and have family support. She completed part of her schooling, college, and university in the UK and now works here. She provides constant emotional and practical support to both me and Emilia and is always with us.

‘Emilia sat independently for the first time at 18 months and began walking at 2.5 years old, thanks to intensive rehabilitation. She has partial loss of vision and hearing — she has glaucoma and cataracts, and her left eye has very limited vision. She has undergone around 20 eye surgeries, 13 of them in her first two years of life under general anaesthesia.

‘Emilia is entirely tube-fed. Despite all of this, she is a joyful child. She loves music, dancing, singing, educational games with me or Karina, and spending time with adults. She knows colours, animals and their sounds, fruits, vegetables, and can count to ten, even though she does not speak.

‘She loves bubble play, enjoys going to her beloved nursery, and is very attached to her therapists both in the UK and in Poland. Her favourite toys are small musical cars with lights — she has a whole collection. Before sleep, she enjoys watching slides with animals and the alphabet, and she finds comfort in gentle stroking on her head or back as she falls asleep.

‘We continue working very hard on her oral skills and feeding. Emilia is still fully dependent on her gastrostomy and unfortunately has not yet begun eating normally by mouth, but we are not giving up. I continue the work at home every day, including massage and stimulation exercises, and I have bought equipment so that we can continue as much of her programme as possible between rehabilitation courses.

‘We have also recently received another difficult reminder that Emilia’s medical journey is far from over. Epileptic activity has again been detected in her brain, and she has had to return to anti-epileptic medication. It was upsetting news, but we are grateful that it was identified and can be treated and monitored.

‘We recently arrived in Alanya, Turkey, for a month-long programme at Mona Otizm Spor Kulübü. This is a different type of rehabilitation from Olinek and is particularly focused on areas where Emilia still struggles greatly — communication, attention, interaction, learning to play and engage with other children, sensory development and psychological support. The programme also includes therapeutic work and activities involving animals, including horses.

‘For Emilia, this is extremely important. She wants contact with other children but does not yet know how to communicate or play with them properly, and maintaining her attention and concentration is very difficult. This is why I wanted to try a programme that approaches her development from a different direction rather than concentrating only on her physical abilities.

‘There is another benefit to being here. The centre is close to the sea, so Emilia will have the opportunity to spend time by the sea and breathe the sea air. Shortly after birth, following a severe infection, she developed very serious pneumonia which caused significant damage to her lungs — around 65%. This is the first time in her four and a half years of life that she has had the opportunity to spend an extended period by the sea. The journey here is long and difficult for her, but if this programme proves beneficial, I hope we may be able to return perhaps once a year.

Unfortunately, the fundraising itself has almost come to a standstill. This is the hardest part because Emilia needs rehabilitation continuously, not just once or twice. Every course, journey and specialist programme costs money, and as her mother I simply cannot fund all of this alone.

The family is being supported by children’s charity Tree of Hope, which helps families raise money for children and young people like Emilia for medical treatments and healthcare services not freely available to them through the NHS and social care. The charity provides fundraising guidance, campaign development, financial management, charity registration and emotional support from the Family Support team. Families like Emilia’s benefit from gift aid, corporate support while also providing donor reassurance.

To find out more about Emilia or contribute to her fund, visit https://www.treeofhope.org.uk/get-involved/childrens-campaigns/help-emilia-move-breathe-and-grow/