Winnipeggers are stepping up to help a 10-year girl with cystic-fibrosis in Ukraine.
Dasha Mazor was diagnosed with the genetic disease when she was three months old.
“She’s a happy, happy girl and smart beyond her years,” said Kolya Yevtushenko, Mazor’s uncle.
Yevtushenko and his wife, Tara, live in Winnipeg. He said his sister, Mazor’s mother, is now a full-time caregiver for the young girl, who he said isn’t getting the proper medical care in Ukraine.
“The good medication is very hard to find,” said Yevtushenko, adding the conflict in Ukraine has made the situation even worse.
"The crisis – basically a war - it's very difficult because there is no money for funding with kids with disease,” said Yevtushenko.
The couple have set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money for better medication and to buy Mazor a cystic-fibrosis vest. The device inflates and deflates; movement that will allow better airflow into the young girl’s lungs.
The couple writes on the page that only one in 10 children in Ukraine with the diagnosis will live to the age of 18, while the average in North America is 43 years old.
“She’s talented, she’s spunky, she’s a musician and an artist,” said Mazor’s aunt.
“Looking at her, you would never know she is going through a really difficult illness, which is kind of inspiring coming from a 10-year-old,” she said.
So far, the couple has raised $8,000 of their $20,000 goal.
