Hello, good people!

My name is Maria Naydenova, 39 years old from the village of Shumata (Sevlyovo municipality) and I am a single mother of a seven-year-old girl. When I was nineteen years old, I started to feel physical discomfort, which manifested itself when I bent down and climbed steps. After a few months I began to feel pain in my right leg and to limp with it. These symptoms were strange to me especially at the age I was, so I sought medical attention.

After tests were done I was diagnosed with progressive muscular dystrophy, and I was prescribed physiotherapy and treatment with immunovenin and Nivelin. Over a period of 10 years I maintained my condition with spa treatments and physiotherapy, during which time I worked and had no progression of the disease. In 2016 I became pregnant and that is when my complications started, I started to have difficulty lifting objects and holding them. In July 2017, despite all the health issues, I gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby girl, but I found it very difficult to take basic care of her.

So every month that passed became more and more difficult for me physically and emotionally because I could not take care of my child on my own. I started getting curvature of the spine, my leg and shoulder started giving out more and more. In 2023 I had another scan, which also confirmed that I had progressive muscular dystrophy, then the doctors at Alexandrovska Hospital recommended stem cell treatment in Turkey, but the amount for the treatment was prohibitive for me.

A year and a half passed and I gathered courage to seek help. Things started to become more and more difficult for me, I cannot take my daughter to school, I cannot carry out normal household chores without someone else's help, and the prognosis for me is not good and the only hope for me is to have the treatment in Turkey. I have only one dream and that is to take my daughter by the hand and go out with her to a pastry shop or to the park, because that has never happened to us.

In order to realise this dream, I have to undergo stem cell treatment at a cost of EUR 18 000, which is unaffordable for me. This campaign is to give hope not only to me, but also to my child. So I ask everyone who is able to support us so that we can have a fruitful and normal life. I believe in people and good and I know that when we are united anything is possible.