Media. Zakarenko’s story is not an easy one to tell, but it is also a beautiful story of love and hope. Let me tell you how the nurse put this baby in his cot and left him, but when she came back, she couldn’t stop screaming.
Was a normal, healthy baby. When he was born on 16th November 2014, he was born in a hospital in Tula, Russia, and at first, seemed fine. But after a couple of days, his doctors realized he had developed a mild case of jaundice. The symptoms of jaundice are yellowing of the skin and whites around the eyes, and the condition is caused by elevated levels of bilirubin. Jaundice is common in newborns and is not a cause for concern, but if left unchecked, it can lead to deafness or brain damage.
So Matthew has prescribed a light therapy called Phototherapy, in which he would be exposed to natural light from special lamps. The light rays would reduce the level of bilirubin in his system and effectively cure his jaundice. Maddy stayed in the hospital for a couple of days to receive this treatment, and his mother left him in the care of the medical staff to receive the treatment. Matvey lay naked on a special cot so that as much skin as possible would absorb the rays. However, his eyes were covered to protect them.
He would only have to be in the cot for short periods and always had to be supervised. But one day the nurse responsible for his treatment had to step away. She had placed Matvey in his cot and left the room to attend to something else. And of course, it was exactly at that moment that disaster struck. It was not the light therapy itself that went wrong, but the treatment lamps.
Somehow he was once again the unluckiest baby in the universe because exactly at the moment when the nurse left him, one of the therapy lamps broke and exploded into flames. It was horrible, and the little mother who had no idea what was going on was burning. The nurse came back shortly after and of course, realized right away that something was wrong. The caught in which she had left Matvey was on fire and she screamed. She was horrified and devastated that this had happened under her watch, but luckily she was also able to react in a panic.
She tried to put out the flames by throwing a nappy over the exploding lamp before trying to rescue Mate. And if you think it can’t get any worse, it did. And another therapy lamp exploded. This time he threw pieces of the burning nappy on Matvey. The nurse was terrified because she had already lost Matvey and the situation seemed hopeless.
Help soon arrived and they were finally able to extinguish the flames. The little valve was taken to an e and treated for severe Burns. Doctors established that at least 75% of his body had been burned during the incident. A small infection could kill him, and the pain he must have suffered is unimaginable. His little fingers and toes were partly burnt, his face was unrecognizable and his internal organs were also damaged.
But fate was not finished with Mattvie because when his 19-year-old mother heard about the accident and saw the damage, she didn’t go into Mama bear mode and pray for his life. No, she decided she couldn’t cope with it. She decided she could not cope with the situation and the responsibility of such a badly burnt child and abandoned him. It was already clear that he would never fully recover from his injuries and would need many treatments. Now he had to face it all alone as an orphan with a future as uncertain as a couple of days to live.
Matvey’s tragic and painful story soon hit the media. An investigation into the accident was launched, and soon a hospital director, Galena Sundiva, was found guilty of negligence and sentenced to three and a half months in prison. Many people read about the match in the newspaper and sympathized with the baby, and some offered to help either with care materials or simply financial donations. Many women expressed interest in adopting Matvey. He was already a famous baby, and even his mother came back to claim him.
But since she had already relinquished her parental rights to him, it was not that simple, and to be honest, the court did not get the sense that she regretted her decision to relinquish him, but perhaps thought she could benefit from her celebrity status in Russia. However, one woman who came forward to adopt Matthew stood out or tried not to stand out and stayed away from the media. Her name was Fetlana, and the judge had the feeling that she might be the best and most genuine choice for Matvey.
The paperwork and waiting for all the paperwork was long, but in the end, it was Svetlana who was able to take Matvey home. As Fetlana knew that there were many people worried about Mate, she agreed to help set up a blog to keep everyone up to date with his progress.
It was run by volunteers and regularly published news about Mate. Svetlana told him, for example, about the operations plan for him to rebuild the skin on his face, torso, and legs and the attempts to give him back a nose of sorts. His nose had been completely burnt off. He would also have to regain muscle and weight, and in general, he had many scars that needed treatment with special creams and for pain. He needed medication.
He had lost many important body tissues needed for the most basic movements, such as sitting, gripping, and twisting. He spent a lot of time in hospital, but Svetlana also managed to take him for walks and show him the outside world. The blog also told how Matvey, perhaps against all odds, was becoming a charming, cheerful and happy boy. He was always smiling sweet Anna said it was as if he had little rays of Sunshine coming out of him and touching anyone who came into contact with him. How could he be so happy and uplifting when all life seemed to be against him?
For those around him, it was hard to imagine how Mother could live a normal life, but Matfe himself took everything as it came to him. It always amazes me that people who have faced so many challenges and setbacks still see life in a positive light. But it is also possible that Matvey knew no better and felt like a normal child. He was growing up quickly and was beginning to learn to walk and talk and to catch up with his newly adopted siblings. However, walking proved difficult because his legs were badly damaged and he was missing many fingers and toes.
They looked abroad for treatments that could help remedy this, but without success, it is clear that this child still has a long way to go. And one wonders how he will look back when he grows up. Some day he will learn about his past and the terrible accident he suffered. And perhaps he will wonder how different his life would have been if that nurse had stayed in the room with him and washed over him in those crucial moments when the lamp exploded, perhaps she would have been able to get him out of there immediately and he would have suffered only minor injuries instead of being severely damaged and scarred for life.
But of course, there’s no point in thinking about what would have happened if life goes the way it goes and some things, no matter how sorry we are, can’t be undone.
Is there anything you have done that you regret and wish you could go back and undo? Or are you like Matfe and just take life as it comes and keep trying to be grateful and smile every day. I’d love to hear your thoughts.