We are helping Verunka! A happy ending

Thanks to the support of fans and of the management of the Beats for Love dance festival, seven-year-old Veronika Staníčková from Dolní Tošanovice can now communicate with those closest to her. She can tell her parents what she would like for dinner, show her siblings what she wants to play with, or chat with her classmates about a difficult test. For the first time in her life, this is made possible for the seriously ill girl by a special aid that the Beats for Love organisers purchased from the proceeds of a public collection.

Charitable projects were an integral part of this year’s Beats for Love festival. Among them was a public collection in support of seven-year-old Veronika Staníčková from Dolní Tošanovice. „We are one of the biggest events in the region and as such we feel co-responsible for the region in which we operate. We decided to focus on specific stories and on people whose lives our helping hand can make easier,” says Kamil Rudolf, director of the Beats for Love festival. Over ten thousand crowns were raised among the festival’s fans, and the organisers then topped the amount up to just under one hundred thousand, which was needed to buy the chosen aid.

Because she was born prematurely, the girl struggles with many health problems. She has cerebral palsy, which is why she cannot walk and her hands do not obey her very well. Verunka has also been deaf since birth and can hear only thanks to a cochlear implant. She has gradually learned to understand spoken language, and although she does not speak herself, she understands the sounds around her and the speech of those closest to her.

The quality of her life will now be significantly improved by a special aid that makes it possible to control a computer, laptop or tablet with one’s gaze (she cannot use these devices otherwise because of the involuntary movements of her hands). This will support the girl’s independence and her ability to communicate with those around her, which is currently crucial for Veronika also because she has just started the first grade of primary school. The aid will therefore not only improve Verunka’s communication with her nearest and dearest, but will also ease her path through education.

„Veronika is very curious and likes learning new things; she is patient and has a strong will. With assistance she very much enjoys drawing, looking at books, playing with toys and going for walks. She would like to do what her siblings and friends do, and that is why we were immensely pleased that the festival’s management decided to help us and bought this modern aid for Verunka. We are all closer to one another now,” summed up her mother Jana Szkanderová on behalf of Verunka’s whole family.