When the heart of the home falls silent

When the heart of the home falls silent: Help fulfil a dream that is all that remains of a mother

There are some fates that should not take place in real life. Fates whose cruelty is like a tragic novel, but for one family in our neighbourhood, a fate that is an everyday, pressing reality. This is a story about enormous love, about the battle for a child’s life and about a dream that was reduced to dust in a single second.

Two souls, one world

Michal and Martina were not just husband and wife. They were two people who were destined for each other. This is the sort of love story you see in films – when one partner finishes the other’s sentences, when they smile at each other across a room and everything is all right. They did everything in life together. From bringing up their children, to ordinary shopping. They were not only the absolute bedrock for each other, but also for their two children: their seventeen-year-old son Tadeáš and six-year-old Tobík.

But their path was never simple. From the moment Tobík was born they had to battle against fate, which had placed a burden on the little boy’s shoulders, greater than even an adult could manage.

The first battle for Tobík: At death’s door

Tobík came into this world with a diagnosis of Pes equinovarus congenitus, or clubfoot. His parents courageously arranged exercising and physiotherapy, but they had no idea that worse was yet to come.

When Tobík was just three months old, Michal and Martina experienced moments that no parent can imagine, not even in their worst nightmares. Their little boy started to die in their arms. He was quickly transported to hospital where they received a diagnosis that made their blood run cold: intestinal volvulus or a twisted intestine, an intestine abnormally attached to the posterior abdominal wall and invagination – a situation when one section of the intestine telescopes into itself.

The doctors had to take immediate action. Sections of the intestine were already dying. Half of Tobík’s large intestine had to be removed during a complex operation. His parents spent days and nights by his bedside in the hospital corridors, praying and hoping. Then, three months later, they suffered another blow – Tobík had to undergo further major abdominal surgery due to adhesions and lost another part of his intestine.

The long hospital stays, sepsis, poor nutrition and isolation from the normal world all negatively affected the little boy. Tobík now suffers from developmental dysphasia, which makes communicating and understanding the world around him more difficult. But his parents were resolved to give him all the care and love they could, so that he would be able to overcome his handicap.

A shared dream bought through blood and sweat

After all these hardships, Michal and Martina decided that their family needed a safe harbour. A place where the boys would be happy, where they would find peace, and where they would finally be able to relax. They found a plot of land, which all four of them immediately fell in love with, and began building their dream family home. It was the project of their life. They even made a very personal decision one day in the evening as they looked at the unfinished walls of their house: "This is our home. When our journey ends one day, we want to be buried here, in the place we both love."

But fate had other plans. Two months after they began building, the COVID pandemic struck. This was followed by the war in Ukraine. The price of materials rocketed and tradesmen were in short supply. The deadline for the building work was extended and costs increased steeply. But Michal and Martina didn’t give up. They increased their mortgage, tightened their belts and spent every free hour they had on the construction site. They could see the finish line. Their house was nearly finished.

A dark day, when the heart stopped

Six months ago, Michal returned home from work a little earlier than usual. He was looking forward to seeing Martina, to sharing time over coffee and planning the last of the work on their house. Instead, he came home to quiet. He found Martina in the bath. She had drowned.

In an instant, Michal’s world was shattered. He tried to revive her, he pleaded, he cried and fought for her with all his strength. In vain. A subsequent examination revealed the cruel truth: Martina’s heart had stopped, suddenly and without warning. No-one suspected that she had a hidden defect. Not even Martina herself. The world had lost a woman in her prime, a loving mother and wife, the glue that held the whole family together.

In the wake of this tragedy Michal suffered a nervous breakdown. He had lost the love of his life, his anchor and the mother of his children. The world lost all meaning, but he had to stay strong for his seventeen-year-old son, who had lost his best friend, and for six-year-old Tobík, who missed his mother desperately.

On the edge of a precipice: Why do we need you?

Today, six months after the tragedy, the family stands before yet another catastrophe. Michal, who is trying to improve his mental health and look after the children, is finding it impossible to pay the high mortgage payments. His income has decreased drastically and the costs for finishing the house and looking after Tobík are relentless.

They are at risk of losing everything. The house they built with their own hands. A place steeped in memories of Martina. If they lose their house, they will lose their home and Michal has no idea where he and the children would go.

The purpose of this fund raising campaign is

1. To save their home: To pay off part of the mortgage or at least cover the instalments until the family situation is stable, so that the children are not forced to leave their only safe place.
2. Tobík’s future: To assure intensive therapy and speech therapy, which Tobík needs due to his dysphasia, so that he can lead a full life.
3. To fulfil a last wish: To help the family create a space on their land where their mother Martina can be laid to rest according to her wishes (or by lawful disposition of remains) at home with her boys.

Michal and his children have already suffered their greatest loss – their beloved wife and mother. So we ask that you help them keep the roof over their heads and their shared dream. Help them find a way out of this darkness. Your help will not be able to heal the wounds in their hearts, but it will give this family a chance for a new beginning, where Tobík will be able to speak and Michal will be able to bring up his children in the house that Martina loved so much.

Thank you for every crown and for sharing their wishes. Thank you for not being indifferent to their story.