Borna's story

Borna is a boy that was born after several complications in 28th week of pregnancy. After initial fight for his life, when we left the hospital 2 months after he was born, he was diagnosed with sight impairment, specifically retinopathy, degree 4-5, with no surgical options due to late diagnosis. The next diagnosis that was very disturbing, after I had noticed bad body movements pattern and body arching, was cerebral movement disorder (tetraparesis) but we were very lucky to have been examined and diagnised by dr Tajana Polovina Prološić rather early and she instructed us to go to Poliklinika Stojčević – Polovina when Borna was 3 and a half months old!

This is where the chaos in our lives begins. Borna is our first and only child. We all want and expect the prettiest and the most prefect child in the world. This is the problem, sadness, fear, ignorance, because I walk, and I have never even thought about it, how I do it, or what kind of a process it is, and on the other hand, I would like to help my child, because he is so small and disabled, and it is not his fault that he is trapped in that body. Dr. Polovina and his unselfish team put everething into perspective. The most important part was that I immediatelly started to believe, and I could have been sitting and crying over my child or listening to advices of unlimited knowledge and experience instead, that was pouring into my child gradually.

We started from blocking the current motor function features, which means returning to „zero“, and then starting to advance. In the beginning, all my clumsiness and chaos come out, and many times at home, when my few months old child cried because he can’t see and doesn’t know what is going on arround him, I cry too because I know that we have to do the exercises, that is is his only chance to and at the same time my heart is breaking and I feel endlessly sorry for him. At first, we have to come to the clinic very often because we can’t loose any moment in Borna’s rehabilitation, but after a while, although it is all relative from this perspective now, because it seemed like an eternity then, we are moving forward. Life changes suddenly, and everything that was very important before is now secondary. Suddenly it is irrelative how often you wash yur windows or something. Life is all about eating, sleeping and everything else is working with Borna. My husband has to work every day, and he is my moral support in this.

We measure days by departures to Zagreb and by exercises, old ones, and new ones that have to be learned. Sometimes it is easier, somethimes it is hard! The worst part is when you do an exercise for months and there is no advancement even in 6 months time, and then, suddenly, as if he was born with it! Everything is tested – endurance, strength, friendship, marriage. Everything suffers! It is not easy, but if a parent won’t help his/her own child, then what is to be expeced. And everything works somehow because of the great support of the Policlinic team. We get angry at each other, and we have differences in opinions, and we have been there long, so we have changed several therapists, but every one of them is remembered by something Borna has learned from them. Currently we are working with Tamara, and we are close, we listen and do the exercises, and Borna sometimes tells her a joke and we make her laugh.

Today Borna is a 7 year old boy. Very chatty, he has changed many therapists ( Mali dom Zagreb, Zlatni Cekin Slavonski brod, integration therapy with Center Vinko Bek, he has his own therapy dog Rolly-a real friend, he goes to horse- riding therapy, and kindergarten).

And his motor skills; very slowly our curve has gone up. He started to lift up on his elbows, then kneeling on all fours, than crawling, and then kneeling up and we were persistent and at the age of 6 came the first shaky steps that are now better. We need to strenghthen the legs, get strenght to lift the body up, and we need to soften the steps. It’ll come. The blindness is slowing us down a bit but we will be patient and we are happy to be led by such a real team. Thanks a lot to everybody!

Borna’s parents