Hello, good people!

Paola is a smiling 9 year old child like everyone else, but struggling with the not so predictable condition - Autism.

Autism entered our lives unwanted and uninvited when Paola was 1.6 years old. She struggled to walk and had to have rehabilitation to stimulate her motor system at 9 months old. All the doctors and people around us said she was lazy and would walk. But it wasn't happening. Apparently these were the first signs that we as parents didn't understand and continued to ignore lightly which we regret very much. But it wasn't just that then the lack of interest in the world around us came.

She wasn't playing with the toys, she wasn't paying any attention to them. She wasn't saying any words. She didn't respond to her name. And her peers were now saying "Mommy", "Grandma", "Daddy", etc. Again, the standard response - she would talk, a little later, her grandfather spoke at age 3 and she had "snapped" at him. This was the second sign that we as parents again did not recognize. But how do we recognize it when we both graduated from military school and have no knowledge of medicine. During this time Paola was growing and at 1.6 years old the first horrific 4 hour hysterical crisis was triggered. And that marked the beginning of our walk of grief... Almost daily crises, crying, screaming and insomnia for 2 to 4 hours a night followed. We cried with her, too, out of frustration and not knowing how to react. Smiles and blank stares during the day, no eye contact.

A wandering and examination began: a week-long observation in a psychiatric clinic - diagnosis "Childhood Autism"; an examination for genetic abnormalities - fortunately none; a hearing test at the MMA - perfect. We also ended up in the hospital due to pneumonia and she received 5 different types of antibiotics, which could have been one or two if she had been blessed with speech and awareness. Thankfully that nightmare is over. In between we temporarily moved from our beloved Plovdiv to the capital because Dad is military and the change of siege intensified the night crises. We did all sorts of tests and even a hair test in the US which revealed heavy metals, leaky gut, gluten intolerance and this for a child less than 3 years old. We were prescribed all sorts of supplements which are not cheap at all and finding them is a challenge. Friends from abroad are helping because there are none in Bulgaria... Over the years we started to see a speech therapist, psychologist, occupational therapy and we as parents are also learning how to control these emotions and put every action into words to continue the therapy at home. Of course all of this at the cost of depriving her older brother, who is normal, of attention and smoothly turning him into his sister's therapist and parent as well. A speech therapist, a psychologist, a resource person, and an occupational therapist work with Paola on a regular basis to make up for any deficits in her condition, as she is still nonverbal and her echolalia is at 100 percent.

After a while we found out about EEG based brain stimulation - tried that too. Thanks to the first series of treatments, Paola took off her daily diaper at age 5. She parted with the night one days before she turned 7 "thanks" to a badly spent Kovid.

Thanks to acquaintances we were able to enter a nursery and a mainstream kindergarten. Paola started to socialize with peers who accepted her very well. She was very happy and began to learn albeit slowly what it was like to be a child!

The time came for her to start school, but children like Paola were not accepted in our schools even though they said there were places allocated for them too. There they are just another number in the class and will be "pushed out" so the school can get the subsidies.

In the meantime, we have started looking at other treatment options to give our little girl a chance to have a full life. We found Professor Erdal Karayoz and Liv Hospital in Istanbul. We did consultations and research with him and his team about the possibility and success of stem cell infusion. Unfortunately, in addition to the deficits known to us in Turkey, photosensitive Epilepsy was found to be present. However, the hope of a good outcome was there. We sold the property and with a little help raised all the necessary funds and did 3 successful donor stem cell infusions. As a consequence of this and the daily work of an army of professionals around Paola, she has a good passive vocabulary.

She is now a 2nd grader, having been deferred once, and is now doing decently with letter writing and reading. There are about 2 years left in which real and effective upgrading in status, skills and development with Paola is possible. The Liv hospital offer is for 2 stem cell infusions and ozone therapy, again at a cost of €19,000, which does not include the waking and sleeping EEG scan for epilepsy screening at a cost of €1500, and the post infusion supplements prescribed at a cost of approximately €500.

Paola is still not independent and with huge deficits in behaviour and understanding. We as parents live with the thought "what if I am gone what will happen to the child". Bate is 7 years older than her and will never turn his back on her, but he is entitled to his own independent life without being his sister's parent. And we are fighting for her to have a full and independent life in our society!

The amount needed for the infusions is prohibitive for our family and because of this fact we need the support of all of you! We would be grateful for every outstretched hand because every child needs a chance to grow up with dignity and become an independent person!