In the village of Bolshoy Chagan, Baiterek district, West Kazakhstan region, 17-year-old Maria Irtikeeva is amazing many people. The artworks she paints with her feet have won numerous competitions. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
According to Maria's mother, Elena Irtikeeva, the birth was difficult. After leaving the maternity hospital, mother and baby were admitted to a children's hospital for treatment.
"She was weak, but the doctors said there would be no defects in the future, don't worry. After that injection, one side of Masha's body was paralyzed, and she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The child was weak, so from a medical point of view, she needed to be exempted from the vaccination. We didn't know about it, and the doctors didn't say," the mother says.
Maria has been fighting cerebral palsy since she was 2 months old. Her parents have never sat idle, constantly searching and working tirelessly.
Dolphin therapy in Sevastopol helped Masha a lot. "Part of my daughter's hair on her head had stopped growing, but after the dolphin therapy her hair grew, and her movements became more confident," she says.
Maria started painting at the age of 11. "No matter how much she tried to paint with her hands, she couldn't. Then she painted with her nose, but that was also difficult. In the end, she started painting with her feet," says Elena Irtikeeva.
Maria's parents have never asked anyone for help and have never knocked on the door of any institution to this day.