Fragile Sasha, who did not break: the story of the “crystal” boy. Indigo: Sasha Pushkarev - crystal boy Outdoor games

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You can love life, despite the fact that you were born disabled and are not needed by your parents.

The city of Nizhny Lomov in the Penza region. Little disabled people live in a boarding school for children with physical disabilities, abandoned by their parents. Sasha Pushkarev is 14 (in 2006) years old, his height is slightly more than 50 cm.

The boy has crystal disease - brittle bones. Sasha's father and mother were deprived of parental rights for drunkenness. Several years ago, a person appeared in a child’s life who was not indifferent to what would happen to him. Father Mikhail, the priest of the village church, took the boy from the porch, taught him to read and write in prayer books and invited him to sing in the church choir.

In the orphanage where Sasha was assigned by local authorities, the boy continued his Orthodox activities. In a small prayer room, a former utility room, disabled children learn prayers together and talk about God and the meaning of life.

Crystal boy from Kamenka was adopted by Perm residents

It seems that all the central newspapers wrote about Sasha Pushkarev, a pupil of the Nizhnelomovsky orphanage. NTV and Kultura dedicated stories to him, and Channel One made a documentary called “Crystal Boy.”

Crystal - because Sasha’s soul is pure and bright. And also because of Ellis-van-Creveld syndrome. This rare disease caused the boy to be half a meter tall, with an irregular skeletal structure and fragility of his bones: they break under the slightest stress, like glass.

There are 80 pupils in the Nizhnelomovsky orphanage. They were brought here from different parts of our great homeland. But Sasha is local, originally from Kamenka. Due to alcoholism, his parents were deprived of the right to raise their own child.

When Sasha was still living in Kamenka, communication with Father Mikhail from Trinity Church became the light in his window. The father taught the child church rituals, appointed him to sing in the choir, and many parishioners specially came to Trinity Church to listen to the boy and look at him.

Once in the orphanage, Sasha asked that a prayer room be opened here, where he became, so to speak, an amateur priest. I read the Gospel to the children and sang prayers.

He showed his talent at various amateur art competitions. Last year, he received a diploma as a laureate of the All-Russian festival “World of Childhood”, performing a song based on the poems of his bosom friend, the orphanage poet Alexander Shulchev.

The film “Crystal Boy” was shown on December 12 last year. Pushkarev’s joy was overshadowed by the fact that just at that time Sanya Shulchev was leaving for America: there, overseas, a woman was found who dreamed of giving him her mother’s love.
Sashka did not yet know that the woman’s soul had already rushed to him.

The film, which shocked the whole country, did not leave Valentina Dvoinishnikova, a resident of the village of Polazna, 45 kilometers from the city of Perm, indifferent. Having seen the first frames, she already realized that the Crystal Boy would become her son.

Valentina, her husband Anatoly and their eleventh-grader daughter first crossed the threshold of the Nizhnelomovsky orphanage on International Women's Day, when Sasha turned 15 years old. To say that they were worried would be an understatement...
The Dvoinishnikovs took Sasha to their place in Polazna to take a closer look at each other, and in June they came to Nizhny Lomov again - this time to draw up documents.

The director of the orphanage, Tatyana Peremyshlina, says that the recent court, which officially recognized Anatoly and Valentina as Sasha’s parents, in some places resembled an Indian movie show. The women did not part with their handkerchiefs.
Pushkarev, and he always knew how to beautifully and emotionally formulate his experiences, when asked: “Did you like it in the Dvoinishnikov family?” - solemnly answered: “Your honor! Look at my face and you will no longer have any need to ask questions. You see before you the happiest person on earth!”

Having learned about this event, Channel One journalists went to Polazna to film a continuation of the film about Sasha. The television bosses gave the family trips to the Black Sea coast. In September, the Dvoinishnikovs will go to the sea, the last footage will be filmed there, and the documentary will be broadcast.

And what about Sashkin’s friend and namesake Sanya Shulchev? He is currently still in the US. And in Penza, any day now a trial should begin to recognize him, a Russian child born in the Tambov region, as adopted by an American family.
In September, he will briefly return to his native orphanage, and then go to a foreign country forever. The short visit will be, so to speak, his finest hour.

The fact is that Sanya could not walk. With the disease from which he suffers, like many children in the orphanage, his body grows, but his legs do not. They atrophy, become thin and, since the child is constantly sitting, fold into a pretzel.
Shulchev had just such legs. For as long as the teachers remember, he rode in a low stroller.

In September, Sanya will appear on her feet for the first time before her teachers and nannies. Not on our own, of course, but on prosthetics. In the USA, the boy underwent a complex operation. For seven days the expectant mother stood by his bedside. The miracle was not easy for Sanya, but now he sees the world not from below, but from a height of normal height.

Sasha Pushkarev’s growth stopped in childhood at 53 centimeters. Therefore, it’s hard to believe that he is already 19 years old.

Sasha was born with an incurable disease, doctors call it “osteogenesis imperfecta”. People with osteogenesis are popularly called “crystal” people because of the extraordinary fragility of their bones.

“I broke down many times as a child.”

Sasha was born in the small town of Kamenka, Penza region, as they say, in a dysfunctional family. His parents drank, got together, then separated, and eventually divorced.

Little Sasha had little entertainment; he often just spent days looking out the window and waiting for his mother.

“I was waiting, she came with some drunken people, one day they almost killed her,” recalls Sasha. “One guy swung a lamp at her, then I was very scared and really regretted that I was so weak.”

Sasha says that he realized as a child that he was different from other children in the yard.

When he was taken out to the sandbox, the children quickly ran away. They were afraid of a child who was not like them: small, does not walk, but crawls, with such a child they could neither play hide-and-seek nor leave the ball.

“When I was a child, I mostly lived in the hospital because I broke down many times. My bones are weak and my joints are the same, even if you don’t put on a shirt carefully, you can break your arm,” says Sasha.”

One day the boy was sitting on the windowsill and watching the children in the yard making a snowman.

“My mother came drunk and pushed me hard, she wanted to pull me away from the window, but she did it rudely, and I fell on the bed. And then I bounced on it like a ball and crashed to the floor,” says Sasha.

At the same time, he even smiles, however, he immediately adds: his childhood story was still sad.

Alms for the "crystal" boy

Sometimes the parents, who had sobered up, went with Sasha to the local church. Her parishioners, without saying a word, gave alms to the sick boy in a wheelchair.

“I, of course, try not to think that my parents, using me, were collecting money for their hangover. But they never refused this little thing, and sometimes I got some for ice cream,” recalls Sasha Pushkarev.

When the boy turned 10 years old, his mother and father were nevertheless deprived of parental rights, and he himself was transported to Nizhny Lomov - to the nearest boarding home for disabled children.

A child who ends up in this boarding home is first taught by the teachers to remember the rule by which he will now have to live. It is simple: the strong always help the weak.

Very soon, the cheerful, smart and kind Pushkarev acquired many friends.

New family

When Sasha turned 14 years old, Channel One made a documentary about the Nizhnelomovsky boarding school. Pushkarev became the main character of the film, which the authors called “Crystal Boy”. It aired in 2006.

It was in this very film that Valentina Dvoinishnikova, a resident of Polazna, a village located near Perm, saw her future adopted son for the first time.

“Then I immediately realized that Sashka would be mine. He is so cheerful, good, and has already experienced so much. And I also thought that if I don’t adopt him now, in four years the boy will end up in a nursing home. It is known that such sick children , when they grow up, they are simply transferred from one boarding home to another, for adults,” says Valentina.

Valentina’s own son Oleg was then 24 years old, and daughter Vika was 18 years old. Taking a terminally ill child into the care of a family of modest means is a serious step. Neither the children nor Valentina’s husband Anatoly wanted to even hear about it at first.

But the woman was sure: all this was only until they saw Sasha for themselves. And Valentina began looking for the phone numbers of the Nizhnelomovsky boarding school.

“I found it, talked to the director, she explained to me that the child had a very serious illness, and suggested that I think carefully. Well, I thought for a minute and asked to invite Sashka to the phone,” recalls Valentina.

When they talked on the phone for the second time, Sasha called Valentina “mom.”

She, of course, was able to convince her husband to go to Nizhny Lomov. As soon as Anatoly saw Sasha, all doubts immediately disappeared. But this is where the real torment began, i.e. in bureaucratic offices.

“For each certificate there was swearing and hassle. I explained that I couldn’t take time off specifically to fill out these endless papers. I’m not lying - I literally chewed out every piece of paper,” says Valentina.

If it were not for the strong-willed and even stubborn, in the good sense of the word, character of this woman, then the certificates required by the guardianship and social protection authorities could have been collected to this day.

This is probably the reason why Russian families do not line up for sick children. But here’s what’s interesting: in the six years that Sasha has been living with the Dvoinishnikov family, none of the social workers have ever come to check him.

“Well, at least once someone would come and ask if we are abusing the child, is he fed, is he well-groomed? Does he get laundry, does he sleep in a clean bed, does he study, does he not study? That’s why this happens in our foster families that they beat children to death, starve them, and return them to the orphanage like some kind of toy,” complains Valentina.

As for her own adoption story, during the six years of marriage between the Dvoinishnikov and Sasha families, neither he nor they regretted the decision.

Although, of course, we learned to give in to each other, and showed character. But these are ordinary family matters.

It turns out that you can learn to love life. Without even paying any attention to the fact that a person suddenly came into this world as a disabled person for some unknown reason. And trying not to worry about the fact that his parents absolutely don’t need him. This opinion can be confirmed by the “crystal boy” Sasha Pushkarev, whose biography absorbed pain, disappointment, hope for the best and the fulfillment of the most

The beginning of life's journey

Little Sasha was born with a very serious disease that could not be cured. The child had what is called increased bone fragility. Doctors define it as osteogenesis imperfecta. Every bone in his body was so fragile that it could break due to the slightest stress or strain.

“Crystal Boy” Sasha Pushkarev, whose biography is an amazing example of love of life, was born in His parents drank constantly, could often diverge and come together again. This continued until their divorce.

"I'm not like others"

Almost the only entertainment the child had was sitting by the window waiting for his mother. One day he was very scared for her when one of the drinking buddies who periodically came to their house almost killed her with a lamp. Then he greatly regretted that he was so weak and could not protect his mother. This is how little Sasha Pushkarev, the “crystal boy,” lived as a child. The biography of his early years is not distinguished by any happy, pleasant impressions or memories. But he realized very early that there was a huge gap between him and the rest of the yard children.

The boy's mom and dad were deprived of parental rights for drunkenness. They didn’t care whether their son was hungry or well-fed, warmly dressed or not, sick or healthy.

Outdoor games

Sometimes Sasha was brought to the sandbox so that he could communicate with other kids. But this almost never happened: the kids ran away pretty quickly in all directions. They were scared of the strange boy who was so different from them, because Sasha was much shorter than each of the guys (his height stopped at about 50 centimeters), he could not walk - he only crawled. They were bored with him, because it was impossible to play tag, hide-and-seek, or football.

Hospital sketches

The “crystal boy” Sasha Pushkarev, whose biography the first years of his life was not very happy, spent a lot of time in his childhood in the hospital. He practically lived there, because there were many cases when the baby “broke down.” Sasha was so fragile that all he had to do was carelessly put on a T-shirt or shirt or pull on his socks sharply - and that’s all: an arm or leg could be injured.

Once a boy, sitting on the windowsill at home in the snowy winter, watched the children in the yard making a snowman. The mother returned home drunk. She pushed the child away, wanting to drag him away from the window. She did it so rudely that her son fell on the bed, bounced on it like a beach ball, and hit the floor. Even many years later, remembering this incident, the guy smiles, despite the fact that this story from childhood is still quite sad.

“Give it to the crystal boy!”

But in childhood there were brighter days, when sobered up parents took their son for a walk to the local church. Most of the parishioners vying with each other to give alms to the boy with sad eyes.

Thanks to an incomprehensible accident, a huge soul settled in a fragile body. Sasha Pushkarev tried at that moment not to think about the fact that his beloved parents were using him as a means to raise money for his hangover. True, sometimes they remembered their son, buying him a portion of ice cream. And only when Sasha turned 10 years old were they finally deprived of parental rights. My own father died in 2007. At this time, the boy was transported to the nearest boarding school intended for disabled children, which was located in Nizhny Lomov. There he spent the next five years of his life.

New lessons in Sasha's life

In this boarding school there was one simple rule that teachers teach all newly arrived children. The newcomer will now live by it. It is quite simple, but very useful: the stronger should always help the weaker.

“Crystal Boy” Sasha Pushkarev, whose biography from that moment began to gradually change for the better, at first felt a little frightened when he saw so many sick children in one room. He didn't know at all how to behave. But then everything worked out. Soon the sociable, kind and quick-witted boy had many friends. He read the Gospel to them and sang prayers. Father Mikhail from Trinity Church taught him this several years ago, when he lived with his parents.

Screen Star

Sasha had already celebrated his fourteenth birthday when Channel One decided to make a documentary about the Nizhnelomov boarding school. The authors called the film “Crystal Boy” - in honor of the main character Sasha. It was broadcast almost 10 years ago - in 2006 on December 12. The film, very touching and kind, could not leave indifferent Valentina Dvoinishnikova, who lives with her family in the village of Polazna, which is located 45 kilometers from Perm. As soon as the first frames of the documentary appeared on the screen, the woman realized that this courageous boy would become her son. Yes, yes, it was still the same fragile Sasha, who did not break. The story of the “crystal boy” shocked all viewers to the core.

Valentina immediately felt that this was her child. She felt so much for him that at such a young age he had already suffered so much. The woman understood: if she did not take him into her family soon, at the age of 18 the boy would be sent to a nursing home. At first, Valentina’s husband and her children—24-year-old son Oleg and 18-year-old daughter Vika—didn’t even want to think about it. But she was sure that as soon as they met Sasha, they would immediately change their minds.

Very quickly she managed to find the phone number of the boarding school. Valentina talked with the director, who said that the boy has Ellis-van-Creveld syndrome, the child is very sick. She suggested that the potential mother think carefully before making such a radical decision. Valentina did not give up and asked to invite the boy to the phone. Sasha started calling Valentina “Mom” when they spoke only for the second time. She easily managed to convince her husband to go with her to Nizhny Lomov. At the first meeting, Anatoly immediately agreed with his wife’s decision. And that’s when endless trips to the offices of various officials began.

Walking through torment... with a happy ending

“Crystal Boy” Sasha Pushkarev met his mother from Penza only a few years later. And the adoptive parents, in order to take him into their family, had to collect and send over forty certificates to various authorities. And each time an incredible amount of effort and nerves were spent. Valentina practically chewed on every document. And only thanks to her endurance, perseverance and strong-willed character, the process was completed in a short time.

So the “crystal boy” from Kamenka was adopted by Permians. Parents are still surprised that for several years that Sasha has been a member of the Dvoinishnikov family, no one from social services has ever come to check his living conditions. Forgotten or not interested? But many ordinary people are trying to find out more about the guy’s life. They often ask how old is the “crystal boy”? When the film was shot, he was 14. Therefore, now he is already over 20. In the Dvoinishnikov family, everything goes on as usual. They have already learned to give in to each other and not argue over trifles. Which means life goes on!

Crystal - because Sasha’s soul is pure and bright. And also because of the syndrome Ellis van Creveld. This rare disease caused the boy to be half a meter tall, with an irregular skeletal structure and fragility of his bones: they break under the slightest stress, like glass.

When Sasha was still living in Kamenka, communication with Father Mikhail from Trinity Church became the light in his window. The father taught the child church rituals and assigned him to be a singer in the choir. , and many parishioners specially came to Trinity Church to listen to the boy and look at him .

Once in the orphanage, Sasha asked that a prayer room be opened here, where he became, so to speak, an amateur priest. I read the Gospel to the children and sang prayers.

He showed his talent at various amateur art competitions. Last year I received a diploma as a laureate of the All-Russian festival “World of Childhood”, performing a song based on the poems of his bosom friend, the orphanage poet Alexander Shulchev.

Sashka did not yet know that the woman’s soul had already rushed to him.

The Dvoinishnikovs took Sasha to their place in Polazna to take a closer look at each other, and in June they came to Nizhny Lomov again - this time to draw up documents.

Pushkarev, and he always knew how to beautifully and emotionally formulate his experiences, to the question: “Did you like the Dvoinishnikov family?” - solemnly answered: “Your honor! Look at my face and you will no longer have any need to ask questions. You see before you the happiest person on earth!”

In September, he will briefly return to his native orphanage, and then go to a foreign country forever. The short visit will be, so to speak, his finest hour.

Shulchev had just such legs. For as long as the teachers remember, he rode in a low stroller.

INDIGO: SASHA PUSHKAREV - Crystal Boy

You can love life, despite the fact that you were born disabled and are not needed by your parents.

Crystal boy from Kamenka was adopted by Perm residents

Once in the orphanage, Sasha asked that a prayer room be opened here, where he became, so to speak, an amateur priest. I read the Gospel to the children and sang prayers.

The beginning of life's journey

"I'm not like others"

Outdoor games

Hospital sketches

“Give it to the crystal boy!”

New lessons in Sasha's life

Screen Star

Walking through torment... with a happy ending

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