“I’m lying on the floor, I am foaming from my mouth, I open my eyes, I see my mother and brother standing over my head and crying... it’s clear, I had an attack again... the first thing I do - I cross myself and say thank you that it happened to me at home".

12-year-old Toma is no longer afraid of his attacks, he got used to them. The drugs that stop these epileptic attacks are very expensive, and his mom has no money to buy them. The boy got used to it - the main thing is to be at home and to have his mother by his side. The main thing is not to hit the head against something, the rest does not matter.

Well, it matters... each attack brings the boy closer to the irreparable... well, you know what we mean, we just do not want to write this word here. Each time when Toma's brain switches off and starts twisting his body in terrible convulsions, his mother Malusa and little brother Mate kneel next to him and hold his hands and head so that the boy does not hurt himself. And this repeats several times a day.

"If I could buy medications for Toma, this would not have happened... he would have been able to take a break from this nightmare for at least a few days."

Here is a task for you, friends... just imagine it, just reproduce this situation. It is scary, creepy, and painful. In addition to that, just imagine that the children and mother are starving, that in order to survive and earn some money to buy few life-saving pills, they have to rummage through junk looking for some scrap metal to hand it over and earn a penny.

Now, take a breath and read the interview. There are many more horrors out there!

- Maluza, please do not cry! Please tell us about your son's disease.

Maluza: Toma has epilepsy, and now when I can't afford to buy drugs for him, these terrible attacks happen every day. Sometimes even three or four times a day. You cannot imagine WHAT it is! My boy collapses like dead, his arms and legs twist, foam comes out of his mouth... And I stand next to him on my knees and listen to his breathing... I probably would have died long ago from fear and pain... Sometimes he stops breathing, and I almost pass out from horror... What? What happens if he doesn't take breath? I have no idea how I live with it...

- Toma, what do you feel when this happens?

Toma (12-year-old): I don't understand. I never know in advance that it will happen... I don’t remember how I collapse, and I don’t remember what is happening to me either; when I “come back”, I see my mother and brother crying next to me...

- How long ago did it start?

Maluza: Toma had his first attack 2 years ago, and I was terrified. My son grew up perfectly healthy! When he collapsed for the first time and started to convulse, I rushed and screamed like crazy, I thought that my son was dying! The doctors made this terrible diagnosis... They said that it was incurable... Besides that, his vision deteriorated dramatically, his left eye got completely blind. He urgently needs an operation. No one can pinpoint the exact reason for all this, but I think it is because of the experience. It was hard for him to take his father’s death. He cried all the time and asked where his father was, and it was difficult for me to tell him the truth. I kept lying that his father just left, but after a year, I had to explain everything to him, because he did not believe, he knew that his dad would never leave us for so long...

- What happened to your husband?

Maluza: While he was alive, we never lived in need. We lived modestly, like anyone else. My husband worked, he never complained about anything. One day, they took him to the hospital with acute abdominal pain. Then they urgently took him to Kutaisi, operated on him, but as it turned out it was too late - my husband had the last stage of intestinal cancer, and he lived only three days after he had been operated on. I cannot describe with words what happened to me then. My world just fell apart. It's terrible to say - I thought I'd lay hands on myself - but the children... They had no one else but me. We were left completely alone. There was nowhere to go in Abkhazia, so we decided to stay in Zugdidi. My husband's brother lived there, I really hoped for his help, but he soon died too, and left his four children orphans.

- Are you originally from Abkhazia?

Maluza: Yes. When the war began, I was still a baby, I don't really remember anything - whatever I remember is from the words of my relatives... The armed forces burned down both his house and the house of my parents then. My mother still lives with our relatives. I met my husband at a party, we saw each other twice, and on our third date, he "kidnapped" me. But I never regretted it, he adored me, he fulfilled all my wishes, I never heard any rude word from him. We used to be a happy family...

- Well, and this... house? Do you rent it?

Maluza: I already have a long-standing debt for this room, but the landlord, thank God, does not let us out. You can see for in what state this little room is in. It is so damp and cold here, mold is all around, we don't even have chairs here ... we heat this place with a gas stove. Children breathe this musty air and gas... But there is no other way, fortunately we at least are not in the street.

- Did you address the local authorities for help?

Maluza: How much you can knock on closed doors... You know, Toma needs to take one more CT examination to get medications from the state, but this examination is very expensive!  Where can I get that money - we live from hand to mouth? This is a vicious circle - my boy really needs help, he is getting worse without medications, every attack takes away his vitality, it hurts to look at him! For a very long time we have been waiting for a response from the state on financing the operation, but because of the pandemic everything has been suspended ...

- What means do you live on, Maluza?

Maluza: We get an allowance - 220 GEL, and another 60 GEL as food coupon. This is not enough even for renting house and paying utility bills. I collect and hand over scrap metal. I can’t leave Toma alone, so he goes with me, and we rummage through junk together.

- My God, it is so hard!

Maluza: It's hard... If I'm lucky to find something, I put it in a bag and carry it on my back, and my back hurts. But I am still happy - I can earn 10 or 15 GEL from that and buy something to eat. And sometimes we wander all day long and come back home empty-handed...

- It’s scary to listen that.

Maluza: After the death of my husband, my life turned into a real hell. I wouldn't wish even on my worst enemy to see their children suffering.

But I believe that the Lord will not leave us, I pray, and my children pray too, especially Toma, he prays so fervently... You know, it was he, who wrote to you! Toma is fond of computers, once he and our neighbor boy came across a video of your Fund on the Internet, and he decided to try his luck... I didn't expect you to call us, but he believed and waited.

- Do your boys go to school?

Maluza: Toma cannot go to school - his attacks happen too often and unexpectedly. I have to be by him all the time. Mate gets very scared and asks me not to leave them alone at home. Although I can do nothing when attack happens, but he does not get so scared when I am with him. When schools were closed, they of course missed lessons, since we have neither smartphone, nor Internet. But Toma is very inquisitive, he loves to read and really wants to learn... We have no books, but he reads stories in school textbooks of Georgian literature.

- Toma, what is your favorite book?

Toma (12-year-old): Hellados. Well, I've already read the entire school curriculum... I don't go outside - I'm afraid to collapse somewhere. Therefore, I have no friends either, I stay at home and read all day long, or help my mother...

- What are you dreaming about?

Toma (12-year-old): I really want to have a smartphone with Internet connection. There are so many interesting things there! You can read, or watch movies and videos there...

- Probably more computer than phone?

Toma (12-year-old): Computer is too expensive - I know for sure I will never have it. That’s why I dream about phone.

– What will you become when you grow up?

Toma (12-year-old): A legal expert. I don't know yet for sure whether I want to be a lawyer or a prosecutor, but I really want to study law!

Mate (9-year-old): I dream to become a dancer.

- What else are you dreaming about?

Mate (9-year-old): Toma to be healthy... When he collapses, I am so afraid for him - his arms and legs twist, he starts foaming at the mouth... It’s scary!

Toma (12-year-old): He dreams about a bike too, but he is embarrassed to say that.

- Your dreams will come true for sure! Maluza, we are so sorry for you! How can we make your life easier?

Maluza: Toma really needs medications, he keeps silent, he does not complain, but my heart breaks, looking at his suffering!

And you see everything yourself, we live like primitives; boys really need a computer, they cannot study without it. We have no washing machine, refrigerator, or TV. We have nothing - I can't even feed my children properly. Any, even the smallest help will be like manna from heaven for us!

***

A single, helpless widow, Maluza Tskhadaya, is fighting for survival together with her two sons, 10-year-old Mate and 12-year-old Toma. Toma vitally needs medications, without them he constantly has severe attacks. And if he won’t be operated on his eyes on time, the boy will remain blind in one eye forever. Epilepsy is a terrible, incurable disease, but it is in our power to alleviate boy’s suffering!

Malusa and her two sons live in terrible conditions, in a cold, damp little room, deprived of any amenities and normal food. They have neither normal furniture nor equipment, and the boys are deprived of the opportunity to study. They really need our support - with medications, food, a computer, a washing machine, a TV.

You can visit and provide all possible help to Maluza Tskhadaya and her sons. Their adress is: Zugdidi,

Porcelain district, 40/1 Chikovani street .

Please repost our publication. Let your friends know about the grief of this family! It’s extremely important!

God gives us chances to take care of people who are unable to take care of themselves. Do not pass by someone else's trouble! Those poor people are sent to us by heaven so that we could prove not by words, but in deeds that we trust in God!

Friends, there is one more request - if you know about the misfortune of a neighbor or friend do a godly deed, drop us an email at: office-fsp@fsp.ge

Our Fund’s accounts are: 

#GE15TB7194336080100003

#GE42LB0115113036665000

#GE64BG0000000470458000 

(purpose: Maluza Tskhadaya). 

You can also transfer money from our website.

It is also possible to transfer money from TBCpay and ExpressPay terminals. Find our Fund under "Charity" section. (You can read more about rights and responsibilities of the Fund following the link https://goo.gl/GY2Gus )

We have already helped many disadvantaged people! Let’s support Meluza, Toma and Mate too, as no one is immune to bad luck! And who knows, maybe someday we ourselves will need help of strangers!

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