My name is Natalia and Olga is my much cherished first born child. During pregnancy everything proceeded smoothly, "the ultrasonic shows that the child is healthy without any shortage of oxygen (hypoxia)" the doctor kept telling me. I even took photos and made a video with Olga in my tummy. I was happy without a worry in the world and with everything to look forward to...

One day before I was due I was taken into maternity with suspected complications. On arrival I was administered a medication which caused an allergic reaction whereafter the nurses couldn't get the child's heartbeat. The following day the doctors decided for the labour to be induced. Olga was born on the 39th week of pregnancy weighing 3,150 grams. 
The neonatologist assessed her score to be 7/8 points on the Apgar scale. On the first day i wasnt given the baby citing perinatal stress as a reason while on that evening she was sent to the resuscitation room following convulsions and a high temperature.

During the entire first week none of the relatives was allowed to see Olga while she was kept in resuscitation room where no visitors are admitted. I barely survived that first week longing to embrace my baby daughter for the first time. I survived thinking that all would be well and that was only temporary. I am very thankful to all the emotional support i received from my close ones, without them it would not have been possible to bear the distress of being separated from my baby girl.

After a week in the resuscitation room Olga was transferred to another department where I could be close to her despite her condition had not improved much. During her first month Olga never opened her eyes. I could only imagine what was their colour. She only ate very little, cried and slept. She kept throwing up and remained underweight. When she finally opened her eyes I gazed into a wonderful pair of deep blue eyes. Yet for some reason she kept looking up and away. 

After three months the doctor had a brain-scan done. The diagnosis was terrifying: atrophic changes of the big brain's cortical layer (known as West Syndrome), causing tonic seizures, an apparent underdevelopment and ocular movement disorder. 

One month after another we spent going from hospital to hospital seeking any treatment we could get in Belarus. Yet those heart-wrenching seizures would not ease or go away. Olga only cries without getting any sleep while slowly her brain is dying.

As parents we must have hope. We will seize and fight for every opportunity even the faintest glimmer of hope to help our ill daughter and relieve her of sufferings. Our hope now is in the hands of a german clinic which is ready to help us so that one day Olga too can embrace her mother and say: "I love you, mom!"