Volodymyr is from Ivano-Frankivsk. He is a slightly thin man, but he always keeps his back straight. His eyes sparkle with joy. He loves to walk the streets of the city, covering the distance with quick, wide strides — it doesn’t matter if it’s shiny paving stones or suburban paths, the main thing is to walk. But he never does this alone. His mother, Tamara, is always by his side, supporting her son in all his endeavors. Recently, they have taken up a hobby together — embroidery. They have created many paintings together and even started selling them on social media. Volodymyr lives with cerebral palsy and needs the care of his family, but that doesn’t stop him from living a vibrant life: cheering for football teams, having favorite movies, music, hobbies, places to walk, playing sports, and learning new things.
This article will show how daily perseverance and belief in your own strength can help you overcome barriers, stay active, and build the life you want.
Walks, sports, church, and some TV series
Volodymyr and his mother have a very busy schedule. In the morning, they wake up, and Volodymyr washes his face and brushes his teeth. He tries to do it himself, but his mother usually helps him. She also helps her son shave, because his hands shake a little, and this can lead to cuts. Then, of course, he gets dressed, which is a long process. It is difficult for Volodymyr to do this on his own, but he tries. Then they have breakfast and go for a walk, taking every opportunity to do so.
Three times a week, Volodymyr attends an educational and rehabilitation center where other people with disabilities also study. Then Tamara can rest or do household chores; otherwise, she and her son are always on the go. They also spend time at the public organization “Dyvosvit” (Wonder World). They say that after finishing school, this place became their salvation. Communication is important to Volodymyr. Despite the fact that it is difficult for him to speak, he strives to spend time with different people, and his mother supports her son in this.
“The main thing for him is to get out of the house, that’s all, — says Tamara. — My neighbors laugh and say, ‘You’re never home.’ And I reply, ‘No, we’re only home in the evening. Otherwise, we’re not there — we’re either at one organization or another, or at sports, or we get invited somewhere, or we go to church more than once”.
Her husband likes going to church, saying that he feels calm and comfortable there. He likes the atmosphere and enjoys talking to the priests, who support him.
“He listens to the entire Divine Liturgy. He knows it by heart. And he understands what to do and how to do it. He says he doesn’t need anyone to tell him what to do.”
Volodymyr is a sincere, kind, always smiling man. According to his mother, Volodymyr is sometimes calm, and sometimes the opposite — hyperactive. Tamara says that her son finds it difficult to communicate with strangers, he stumbles over his words as if he is shy about answering, but he speaks joyfully. Due to his neuropsychiatric disorder, Volodymyr also finds it easier to speak in simple sentences, and communication exhausts him, but he loves to listen to his interlocutors. He is also grateful when his mother helps him in conversation. Tamara says something about her son, and Volodymyr smiles and agrees with what she says, or, conversely, disagrees.
When Volodymyr is at home, he helps his mother with household chores. For example, Tamara washes the dishes, and her son dries them, which is not only helpful but also good exercise for his hands, she says. But mostly he just helps as a companion.
“He keeps me company, sits with me in the kitchen, and watches what I’m doing. That’s what helps me.”
Volodymyr says he likes to share his emotions with his sister, Olia, and niece Ania. They watch movies together.
He loves watching TV series in the evening. The genre doesn’t matter as long as the plot is interesting. He likes comedies. The only thing he loves more than TV series is sports. He is an ardent fan of the Dynamo (Kyiv) and Shakhtar football teams and tries not to miss any matches. He also likes to watch hockey.
He walks hand in hand with someone because, according to Tamara, Volodymyr has no sense of how and when to walk — fast or slow — but when someone is nearby, he adjusts. Rain upsets him because he has to stay at home. He also has a hobby — he does embroidery, and his whole family helps him with it, but more on that later.
But Volodymyr is so lively now, whereas before it was completely different.
Childhood between massages, rehabilitation, and first successes
“We had a difficult case of cerebral palsy», — Tamara recalls about her son’s childhood. Volodymyr had clubfoot; it was difficult for him to walk, and he kept falling and hurting his knees. The family found a clinic in Lviv that was very helpful.
“The doctor told us, ‘I will cure your child, but only if he follows my instructions.’ We listened to him very carefully and did everything he said,” Tamara continues.
Volodymyr underwent intensive treatment: massages, trips to rehabilitation centers up to four times a year. The family did everything they were told to do, never skipping a single procedure. Fortunately, their titanic efforts yielded the desired result. The man learned to walk on his own, even to run, only sometimes standing on his toes. He learned to write and even grew to love copying texts into a notebook. He learned multiplication and division tables, knows how to add and subtract, and although it is difficult for him to calculate in his head and voice the answer, he does it quite quickly if he has something to write it down on. To some, this may seem unimportant, but often people with cerebral palsy find not only physical but also intellectual work difficult.
Step by step
Over time, the family found a sports center in Ivano-Frankivsk, where they have been training since childhood and continue to do so today. After reaching adulthood, people with disabilities are not provided with free rehabilitation, but they still need to work and study; otherwise, their muscles weaken and they become exhausted. His mother says that Volodymyr does not lift weights, he just does exercises, but this is very important because once he could not hold anything in his hands, and now he can easily lift and carry, for example, a bag with things or groceries. This year, Volodymyr also received financial assistance from the public association “League of the Strong” for rehabilitation. Such assistance is especially valuable for the family, as treatment is always needed.
“Slowly but surely, he learned to carry things and walk. All thanks to massages, warm-ups, and proper treatment. Well, we’ve come a long way, but unfortunately, we can’t achieve better results,” says Tamara.
They overcame not only physical difficulties but also fears. Volodymyr has claustrophobia and was terrified of entering, for example, an elevator. Closed, unfamiliar spaces were uncomfortable for him. But over time, they overcame this too.
“He was terribly afraid of them. So we rode one floor to get him used to it, then walked the rest of the way. But we often tried to walk on purpose to exercise our legs. Now we live on the 9th floor, and it’s difficult for us to walk, so we use the elevator.”
Between sirens…
With the start of the full-scale invasion, new fears and challenges emerged — Volodymyr is frightened by air raids, sirens, and explosions. At first, the family went down to the shelter like everyone else, but there were many people there, it was a confined space with no windows, and this only increased the man’s panic. He became agitated and frightened and couldn’t sleep, so the family was forced to neglect the shelter during air raid alerts.
Although Volodymyr is afraid of war, he respects and admires the military.
“We went to the Warrior’s House once. When he saw our soldiers, he was shocked (he realized that the war was also happening in Ivano-Frankivsk — ed.). He couldn’t get over it for a whole week. And then I thought, ‘God, why did I take him there? I talked to him, tried to calm him down, but it didn’t work; he was still anxious.
But when they called and said he could come again, he eagerly replied, ‘I’ll go’. And I said, ‘Volodymyr, you’ll be upset again’. And he said, ‘No, I want to spend more time with them.”
But when they called and said he could come again, he eagerly replied, ‘I’ll go’. And I said, ‘Volodymyr, you’ll be upset again’. And he said, ‘No, I want to spend more time with them.”
These meetings for military personnel and civilians are also organized by the public association “League of the Strong.” It’s not just an opportunity to chat, observe, or comfortably sit in silence; here, people with shared life difficulties and challenges can share their experiences and help each other. So keep an eye on the announcements on the website and social media and join in. All meetings are free of charge. At one of them, Tamara and Volodymyr told the story of their family, in which their fourteen-year-old son is experiencing the same difficulties that Volodymyr did at his age. The boy also has a severe form of cerebral palsy and was unable to walk. Tamara shared what had helped them and provided the contact details of massage therapists and rehabilitation specialists she knew. The young man received assistance and, according to Tamara, is now doing much better. This is just one of many stories, which demonstrates the value of such events.
Colored stitches against fatigue and anxiety
With his mother’s support, Volodymyr managed to overcome many physical difficulties, but there were still important emotional ones. It was difficult for him to concentrate on anything and control his emotions. He often got tired and angry or panicked, and there was nothing he could do about it. Suddenly, Tamara learned about the interesting art of needlework. It is a bit like sewing, but instead of a needle, a special hook is used.
“We had a teacher named Vira Petrivna. She was involved in this craft and inspired us. It’s monotonous and relatively easy. You ‘go’ from top to bottom, making the same stitches, just in different colors. That’s exactly what he liked about it,” says Tamara.
They flip through magazines with their son, watch cartoons, and choose a drawing, then trace it onto fabric using tracing paper and select colors. That’s how the work begins. They say that sometimes the stitches are a little too long or too big, but it’s easy to fix. Volodymyr fills in the design, his mother helps and “edits,” and his older sister Olga weaves the edges. It has become a kind of family therapy.
One such work takes a week, sometimes a little less or more. There is so much work that they have a good picture for all topics and events, and they have also given one to all their friends and relatives. Now they are trying to sell some of them on Facebook. If you are interested, you can write to Tamara on social media.
It is important for a woman that her son is happy, and this activity makes him a little happier, although there are ups and downs. Sometimes Volodymyr gets angry or upset because things don’t go as planned.
“I say, ‘Don’t cry, we need to gather our strength a little.’”
Volodymyr likes staining flowers the most. He and his mother not only showed us how the process works, but also involved us with Nataliia Basarab, the coordinator of the League of the Strong in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. We tried to embroider a purple background, but I must admit, it didn’t turn out very well. Fortunately, the thread is easy to remove, although the experience was very interesting.
Volodymyr says that when he finishes his work, he feels joy and peace. The process itself is fascinating for him. It seems like monotonous work, just pushing the needle into the tissue centimeter by centimeter and adjusting the thread, but in a way, it works like meditation, allowing Volodymyr to focus and enjoy his time.
“After work, he calms himself down. He loves himself very much because he knows that what he does is important, and that someone will definitely like it and praise him for it. That’s how I figured out his thoughts.”
“Support is a big deal after all,” concludes Tamara. “It’s important for everyone to be close to their loved ones and have common hobbies with them. You just have to find yours.”
This material was created with the financial support of the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO), CBM, and the European Disability Forum. The views expressed in this material belong to their authors and cannot in any way be considered the official opinion of the financial partner and the European Disability Forum.
Text and pictures: Ulyana Fenyak