Save my leg, take this suffering ...

I heard crying and then I became the happiest person in the world - mummy of wonderful Mikołaj. However, the moment of undisturbed joy was short. Something changed in the air, I felt that something bad would happen soon. And then the doctor said, "It's not good with his leg." I froze with fear, the world stopped. There was fear and only one question: what will happen to my child? Today, we are fighting with all our strength for the first step. It hurts, it is not easy, but you can see the light in the tunnel, a real chance for health! Mikuś has already gone through so much, but he can walk! However, without your help it will not work ...

There is probably nothing worse for a parent than to hear that a child is not healthy. It was not going to be like that, it was impossible! I wanted to hug my son, run away from this terrible truth that constantly ringed in my ears: "His leg is bad" ... Our judgment turned out to be an extremely rare defect - fibular hemimelia. This means that the left leg lacks a splint bone, the tibial bone is much shorter and bent, and the foot is deformed and deprived of three fingers. The doctors offered an amputation, they wanted to cut off Mikołaj’s leg and condemn him to a disability for the rest of his life. We could not allow it!

We were looking for help everywhere, we visited specialists all over the country, but nobody could help our son. It was only in Poznań that our hope revived. A year ago, in September, we started the painful and long process of lengthening the left foot with the Ilizarov apparatus. It was a very difficult time, but our son's smile and his faith that he would be able to walk gave us strength for this difficult fight. So many people kept our fingers crossed for our son, followed the progress in treatment, and prayed to heaven ... There was no other option, it had to go! However, what seemed obvious was a false hope. In July, a tragedy happened ...

Despite securing the bone, Mikołaj’s leg broke. The complications appeared, and the chance for health once again became as distant as at the very beginning of our path. It was bad, very bad ... We were close to a breakdown - so much trouble, tears and pain. How could we tell Mikuś that it was all for nothing? Our heart broke, but we could not give up. And when it seemed that everything was lost, the answer came from the Paley Institute in the USA. The foot of our son can be saved!
After consulting with dr. Paley it turned out that Mikolaj's defect was more complicated than we thought at first. By far the biggest problem is the foot, which is underdeveloped and much smaller than the healthy one. Dr Paley stated that Mikuś requires a complicated Super Ankle procedure, thanks to which his foot will be set at the right angle. After the our son’s surgery, months of intensive rehabilitation await, followed by what we are fighting for from the very beginning - Mikuś will set the first, independent steps on his own feet!
We have seen children who have run happily on once distorted legs. They chased other children, laughed, played with tag. They lived as we would like our son to live - carelessly, happily, without pain ... We know that Dr. Paley, the best specialist in the world, can save our son's foot!

When hope came to our life and we imagined how our little boy runs like healthy children, a blow came - we got the cost estimate for the operation. It is beyond our capabilities, we are not able to collect it ... Nearly 100 thousand dollars - that's how much money our son’s health costs. It's so difficult ... In Poland they wanted to cut off our son's leg, in the US they can save it! But the price of this treatment means that we cannot sleep. We know that without money our son will be condemned to disability and pain ... Please, help Mikołaj to fight for the first independent step ...