For the Albanians/ In a small village in Devoll of Korça, no more than 10 families live, and one of them is the Gano family consisting of 7 members: parents Xhoana and Mariglen, 3 small children and their 2 grandparents.
Xhoana and Marigleni met and fell in love in 2016. A year later, their first child was born, a girl they named Leandra and was the greatest blessing of the house.
Two years later, the son Aleksi was born and again after 2 years a daughter, Aurora, who is 4 years old today.
Their house, an old country house, stood at the corner of a steep lane from which you could see whole fields planted with corn and rye. The walls of the house were cracked, but inside them the family never felt cold. It was a simple life but they always felt full.
Marigleni worked every day cutting wood which he then sold, and when there was no work he went there and did whatever work he could find in the village. Joana stayed at home and took care of the children. Every morning she took her husband to work, the children to school, and she started cooking the few things she had at home, because she wanted them to find warm food on the table when they returned. Her greatest pleasure was to see all the people of her heart gathered around the table like that.
The days passed quietly with the same routine, which maybe then they didn't realize how precious it was, and now they would do anything to get it back.
The quiet of the house changed when Leandra was complaining that she felt helpless and just wanted to sleep. He asked his mother to cover him because he felt that he could not even move his hands. The energy he once had was draining him a little each day. Leandra was a good child, smiling and very loving. She was only 8 years old, but her intelligence and responsibility exceeded her years. She helped her mother with chores and was always attentive to her younger brother and sister.
Concerns increased 10 days ago, when little Leandra had a very high temperature that was not going down.
They say that a mother's heart foresaw when the child is in danger, and Joanna's heart felt that her daughter had something.
They took the car from one of their relatives and brought it urgently to the Tirana hospital. Along with them came Leandra's grandmother who did not want to leave them alone.
After all the checks, Leandra was diagnosed with leukemia.
They have been in the hospital for 10 days. The girl is in a bad condition and the doctors have told her that she should go abroad for treatment as soon as possible, but Xhoana and Marigleni cannot afford it. With the work that Marigleni has done so far, they have barely managed to have food at home, and this was a request beyond their means. They feel helpless because they don't have the money to save their little Leandra's life. They feel powerless to stay close to the girl and see her in that condition, hospitalized and unable to do anything. Leandra has been hospitalized for 10 days and every day she asks her mother: 'what are we doing here, mother? Come on, let's go home because I miss my sister."
When the nurses come into the room she knows that they will come to give her more needles and to pierce her arms with the placement of vicones, but her little arms are blackened and she has no more strength to endure. she is powerless to scream but with a broken voice she says: 'Auntie please don't put them on me anymore because they hurt me...'.
For 10 days, Leandra's parents and their grandmother have been living in the hospital.
Leandra's grandmother has been sleeping in the car for 10 days. She refuses to return home without her granddaughter. Says he should be here in case he has to say his last goodbyes…
While Leandra's father sleeps in the flower garden, next to the girl's room...
They have been crying for 10 days, 10 days that they have stayed longer without eating and 10 days that they have not laid eyes on sleep because of worry. They are afraid that when they wake up they will receive the news that no one says out loud, but in their hearts they all feel that it is in danger of happening at any moment.
They left the small children in the care of their grandfather. He takes them to school, picks them up, cooks for them, takes care of them because they have no one else.
Through tears, Xhoana confessed to us that her family has always been together, they have never been separated from each other, but now the family is divided.
His heart is getting poisoned with each passing day...
They pray and hope for a miracle. The only thing they want is to bring Leandra home - where her brother and sister are waiting for her, where she knows no pain but only healing, where they can all be together again./TCH