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The treatment was prolonged and painful. More than three liters of fluid were pumped from the abdominal cavity. Each movement was terrible. Each injection was like a test. But Kira didn’t weep. Once, when her mother handed her a teddy bear with a delicate bandage on her stomach, tears welled up in her eyes:
– Will he be sick with me?
After two weeks, everything improved. The physicians claimed they had never seen such infantile courage. The nurse, always severe and silent, brought her a warm blanket and whispered:
– You are like an angel. Just don’t leave, okay?
Kira’s story immediately circulated throughout the whole floor. Other children were told about Kira’s fighting style. You can do it, too.
She became a symbol of hope across the clinic.
But a few weeks later, a difficulty arose. On Sunday night, her temperature skyrocketed and her legs began to swell. The physicians ran between the machines—another puncture, more testing… Everyone was terrified of one thing: the body had given up.
And again, a miracle occurred. After three days of effort, tears, and fear, Kira opened her eyes and whispered, as she always did:
– Mommy, might I have some chocolate later?
Kira is now 14. She attends rehabilitation on a daily basis and wears a medallion on a necklace with a photograph of her mother within.
She aspires to be a doctor, exactly like the woman with kind eyes told her back then:
– You’re stronger than most adults. You deserve to live.
Her photograph hangs on the gastroenterology department’s walls. The caption below is straightforward but meaningful:
“Strength is not located in the body. “Strength is in the soul.”
Recovery was not simple. Mom lost her work; she got fired while continuously at her daughter’s bedside. However, she did not complain. She just touched Kira’s head and whispered:
– The basic goal is to survive. The rest will come.
They were released after about a month and a half. They moved into a room in the factory dormitory, where their aunt provided temporary shelter. The wallpaper was discolored, the TV was old, and the stove showed rusty signs of age. But Kira laughed. Because she lived. Because she breathed. Because she could see the morning again.
The sickness has not disappeared. It remained nearby, like a shadow, waiting to return. Her stomach swelled somewhat again, and cramps appeared. But Kira learned to survive. And, most significantly, she learnt to appreciate life.
The pupils in school did not understand. They whispered:
– She has a belly like a pregnant woman. – Ugh, she probably has worm
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