Kirill

“Honestly, after the diagnosis, when we finally knew what was wrong, everything became easier. Understanding what your child is going through, […] you learn to support him better.”
(Kirill’s mother)

Kirill is a Russian boy who fills his days with karate, art classes, soccer, and his favorite: stunt scooter tricks. Until he was four, his development seemed entirely typical. Then his hearing began to fail, at an alarming rate, and nobody could explain why. The family saw doctor after doctor, so many that, in his mother’s words, “it’s easier to list the places we didn’t go.” He was seven when his condition was finally recognized as Alpha-mannosidosis.
Not only did the diagnosis give Kirill’s mother a way to ease her son’s daily life; through him, she has grown much stronger too.
Today, Kirill’s hearing has actually improved, surprising even the doctors who once called it impossible. She has learned how much there is to be grateful for, day to day, and often reflects on the quiet things that, all along, were the real pillars: patience, love, and a family she couldn’t have done any of this without.