Russia’s invasion of Ukraine interrupted Sonya's chemotherapy for a rare form of eye cancer.
Sonya holding up a letter describing her dreams a few days after doctors transitioned her treatment to a fentanyl patch in addition to morphine.
It had killed her father at the front line and dealt a debilitating blow to her health, delaying her chemotherapy and allowing a rare form of cancer to rob her of her vision and ravage her body. In the face of these obstacles, families with sick and disabled children are carving out their own paths for survival in hospitals, orphanages and private homes, often with the help of humanitarian groups.
Over the next 16 months, Sonya completed more than a dozen courses of chemotherapy and 25 sessions of radiation. Some 250 women and children live in six buildings across the campus. The shelter’s founder, Ms Marta Levchenko, fosters a community of doctors, nurses and caregivers who operate with respect, kindness and patience.
The war’s intervention proved damaging. In Warsaw, Poland, doctors conducted a fresh series of tests, which took time. Sonya received no actual treatment for more than two months.By that time, the capital was safe again, and Ms Natalia and Sonya resumed trips to Okhmatdyt. Sonya’s headaches increased, as did a pressure behind her eye. In July, five months after Sonya’s originally scheduled treatment, an MRI revealed a new tumour beyond the socket of her right eye.
She loved to bask in the sunlight, and if it happened to be followed by rain, she would shout, “Rainbow, rainbow!” even though she lived in darkness.She formed a bond with Ms Olha Ivasiuk, an artist and photographer in her mid-20s who taught art classes to the orphans and took photographs for Misto Dobra. When Ms Olha gave her a digital camera, Sonya began taking pictures and proclaimed she wanted to be a photographer.
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