15-year-old orphan Maxim had a week health since he was a child. Now a teenager, Maxim recalls one day in his childhood when he and his brothers went to the woods with their Mom to help her gather firewood. His feet were frozen and after that day he started experiencing problems with his nose and throat.

“A local ENT doctor would always say, “You have nothing serious, you’re still small, everything will be fine when you grow up”. However, on the contrary, the situation was becoming only worse with time” Maxim shares.

Since 2011, Maxim has been living in a family-type children home with 8 children in the town of Kozelshchina, Poltava region. His foster parents, Valentin and Tatiana, were trying to help Maxim as much as they could, but the disease would not leave.

“Max is “the life and the soul of the party” but he can’t communicate normally because of his sore throat. He is silent most of the time. Sometimes he still speaks and makes very successful jokes. He has a wonderful sense of humor, he is capable of science, but his health does not allow him to learn at full strength … As soon as the cold starts, the sores return. It starts with throat and causes headaches and comes back to the sore throat again… and this vicious circle never ends”, Maxim’s foster father Valentin says.

“After school, I want to become a pilot.  I read a lot and  try to remember the information, but it does not always come out. This is because of the illness that my memory suffers. I love basketball but when my throat is sore again, it becomes difficult to breathe and I am not able to train at full strength ”

The family came for help to CBN-Emmanuel, having heard that the organization has been supporting orphans in need and large families for many years. In November 2018, Maxim was examined at CBN’s “Medical Mobile Clinic” in Kyiv and the doctor said that Maxim needs a surgery. However, due to active herpes infection, the surgery was postponed.

“After our trip to Kyiv, when we learnt that he needed a surgery, we went to governmental social services to tell them that we need a large amount of money for it. However, we were told that they have no available funds and that we should look for donors to raise the needed amount of money”, the father says.

For the last three months Maxim’s throat was so sore that he couldn’t eat and only had tea during the day. He had constant fever and even breathing caused pain.

In January 2019, CBN- Emmanuel invited Maxim to Kyiv again. This time, he was examined in a specialized private clinic. After a consultation with otolaryngologist, CT and many other  tests, the family learned that the root cause of the problem was nasal septum deviation. It caused accumulation of mucus leading to constant infection and puss coming into the throat.

On January 22 Maxim had surgery at the “Leomed” Medical Center. His father Valentin says that the surgery was successful, there were no complications, except for sore throat after the surgery. At the moment, Maxim still feels some pain, but he now feels much better. Now Maxim can at last eat some solid food instead of just drinking tea. The boy’s full recovery is expected not earlier than a month later.

“We thank CBN-Emmanuel! This organization really cares for orphans and knows how to and where to treat children who are ill. We were in despair, but God helped us through people and showed the way to healing. We pray that Maxim would be completely healthy! “- says Maxim’s foster father Valentin.