After Metropolitan Epifaniy met with the parents of Maksym Antonyshyn, a Ternopil boy diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, and blessed the child, the family won the lottery for a Zolgensma injection worth a staggering $2.3 million. The Borys family from Ternopil has also won the drug for their sick child.
Before that, the community had been raising money for the suffering child. The family had only two months left to collect the required amount when then the parents learned that they would receive the required medication free of charge from the manufacturer, reports Espresso.Zakhid.
Maksym Antonyshyn is 1 year and 10 months old and suffers from a rare genetic disease, spinal muscular atrophy. This disease is gradually destroying the child’s muscles before none of the vital functions can be performed.
“Our boy got a chance at life. We’ve no words… Recently, another family from Ternopil and I had a joint meeting with Metropolitan Epifaniy. It was here, in Ternopil. We were then just raising money for our child’s drug. We talked with Metropolitan Epifaniy about smiley children and Maksym. And after that, both the Borys family and we won the lottery! First it was the Borys family. The head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, said: ‘With God’s help, Maksym will get his shot.’ And so it happened!” said the happy mother, Yulia Antonyshyn.
After the Borys family of Skalat received a lifesaving injection through a lottery, they donated more than UAH 5 million to Maksym Antonyshyn. The vital drug has already been administered and the boy is now undergoing rehabilitation.
Earlier, Ternopil residents set up a viral challenge to help raise the required sum for Maksym Antonyshyn. People would do 10 push-ups or squats on camera, film it, and transfer money to a charity account, before tagging their friends so that more people would be aware of the child’s situation. The family has now ceased raising money for the child’s treatment.
It should be recalled that the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, together with Archbishop Nestor of Ternopil and Kremenets, the abbot and the Ternopil community, parents and children diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy prayed in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin for all children with the said disease.
A charity fair was held on May 22 in the Holy Trinity Spiritual Center of Ternopil following a Divine Liturgy. The funds were donated to the families of Arseniy Borys and Maksym Antonyshyn, the toddlers suffering from SMA.
