8-year-old girl told how she became a baker because of a paralyzed mother: a story of growing up

Little Kristina Mashkovskaya, of course, not without the help of her father and older brothers, organized a real bakery at home.

The family lives in the village of Serpievka, Chelyabinsk Region. Kristina has two older brothers – Boris is 17 years old, and Leo is 14.

At first, dad, mom and their two sons lived in Chelyabinsk, but eight years ago, when Lyubov was pregnant with Christina, they decided to take a serious step: move to the village and do tourism there. Fortunately, the places in that district are interesting. It was then when Lyubov was carrying her daughter under her heart that she was diagnosed with a brain tumor … Malignant. She was at that time 39 years old. And immediately, during pregnancy, she underwent a complex operation to remove the tumor. Everything went well. The family moved to the village, Christina was born ….

– She almost completely recovered from that first operation, but she could no longer do intellectual work. Vision deteriorated, memory problems appeared, – says Christina’s father Alexander Mashkovsky. Before her illness, she worked as an accountant. But we received tourists from different places, and Lyuba also participated: she cooked food for the guests, led excursions. And in winter we made furniture and sewed clothes. There is no work in the village, but we hired workers, gave work to local residents …

However, after the birth of her daughter, trouble came again – the woman was also diagnosed with breast cancer. She was also operated on, everything seemed to be successful, but it seems that chemotherapy knocked down her already poor health. During the next medical examination, they were told that the tumor in the head began to grow again. There was a relapse.

“All our plans went to hell,” Alexander continues. – I quit my job, I had to take care of the children … In August 2021, Lyuba underwent an operation, and after it, my wife had a complete paralysis of the entire right side.

How is Love feeling now?

She is trying to walk: she uses her right leg, which is paralyzed, like a crutch. But, you see, half of her body doesn’t work for her, she gets tired quickly … Plus, she is undergoing powerful “chemistry”. There are cancer centers in Chelyabinsk and Zlatoust, and it turns out that two or three times a month we wind 700 km at a time with a disabled person. In general, this is a big problem – the availability of such specialized medical care for residents of remote villages. And we have to take her to treatment all her life. I dropped out of work … Now the sons are trying to help in carpentry, but so far everything is lame.

… Little Christina gradually began to take on all the duties of her mother around the house, around the house.

“She constantly watched her mother when Lyuba did everything before,” says Alexander. She is mature and smart beyond her years. Probably, when a child finds himself in some difficult circumstances, he becomes … so special, or something. She surpasses her peers at times; acting like a teenager, not like a little girl. I look at her and think: well, they say that children should be sent to good schools so that the child is smart. And Kristina lives in the wilderness, studies at a regular school, she is now studying two languages ​​at school, she herself has also begun to learn Chinese. Draws. Very versatile…

At first, the girl baked bread and buns for her family members. On New Year’s Eve, dad suggested that she bake more bread to give to three or four friends in their village. They wrapped the bread in beautiful towels and distributed it to those neighbors with whom they are friends. And then, Alexander says, it turned out like in the good old Soviet cartoon about a hare who gave everyone an apple … All those to whom they gave bread brought them large bags of gifts before the New Year. And they said: “Christina, you have delicious bread, let’s bake for our share too.”

Does this interfere with her studies?

She mostly bakes in the evening or on weekends. This does not affect the grades, she studies with us for five. Of course, this is not “slave child labor”, but solely on her personal initiative. She does it because she likes it, she’s good at it. It’s like her creativity. She gives bread to someone, and in return they give us milk … and so on. Such a barter is obtained. It sells to someone, of course, we help out a little, but at least it goes to gasoline …

We also talked to the young baker.

– I like to cook bread and various other products, for example, cakes, pancakes, pancakes, – Christina told us. – I like the process itself. The bread needs to rise twice. Once to get it up where it gets kneaded and a second time in shape. When it rises for the first time, it needs to be kneaded first. It’s very enjoyable and I enjoy doing it.

– What are your favorite subjects at school?

– Most of all I like art, because I want to become an artist. I also used to sing, but after my mother and I got into trouble, we can no longer go to music.

– What do you want to do when you grow up? Still an artist?

– I do not know yet. I can do everything. I could work in a bakery and make paintings to order. I don’t have to be the head of the bakery, let Borya be the head there. And I’ll be the head chef. In the bakery you can bake not only bread, but also various buns, pizza.

I have many friends in the class, I have high school friends… I would like to bake buns and bring them to school, treat my friends. Now here I am training to make buns with poppy seeds. Mom and I have already baked them twice, and I’m going to bring them to school soon.

Our mother is good, she tries very hard to be helpful. And I want her to recover as soon as possible, because it will be easier for her, and it will be easier for us. I want to wish her well…

– Alexander, what predictions do doctors make? I ask my father.

– No one gives us any forecasts. Nobody knows how long our mother will live. We take her for treatment, she is given a special drug that should help stop the growth of this tumor, slow it down …

The fame of the little baker has already begun to spread beyond their village. Christina’s story leaves no one indifferent. After all, despite her young years, she already feels such a great responsibility for her family members. And she does everything in her small power to help her family survive in such a difficult period for them.