Despite  his young age, three-year-old Serhiy knows everything about doctors and medical procedures: due to several inborn defects, the little boy has already had 5 surgeries!
Born with a severe condition of cleft lip and cleft palate, Serhiy couldn’t live a normal life – because of his defects, the boy could not eat or breathe normally. He had difficulties with chewing food or swallowing it. However, according to Serhiy’s Mom, the worst thing was that Serhiy could not speak and this lead to a severe psychological trauma for the child.

Sergei’s mother Tetyana  is a single mother of three other kids. Tetyana head about CBN-Emmanuel at her “Good News” Church in the town of Slavyansk. One day, she had a chance to personally meet with Galina Kucher, CBN-Emmanuel’s Director of Humanitarian and Disaster Relief Department, and tell her about the health problems of her youngest son. Tetyana shared that as a single mother of four children, she couldn’t provide for Serhiys treatment. She shared that besides cleft lift and cleft palate, little Serhiy had an inborn heart defect.

This is how the story of friendship and support began. CBN-Emmanuel and Orphan’s Promise were there for the little boy in need of help.

In the last two years, little Serhiy had a surgery on his upper lip, two heart surgeries and a surgery to fix his cleft palate. Numerous friends and partners of CBN-Emmanuel supported the family with prayer and donations. CBN-Emmanuel’s team also participated in helping the boy  by  making arrangements with doctors, meeting them at the train station, accompanying them everywhere they needed to go and requesting prayers for Serhiy in social media.

“I am very grateful to all people who helped us in our most difficult situation. Someone had to  arrange for the medical check-up, make arrangements for the surgeries. I know that this requires a lot of effort. I am grateful that my child was not neglected and had a chance to undergo the needed treatment. I have no words to express all the gratitude I feel. I know that in the two years there were many people who prayed for my son’s health. The Lord hears our prayers, and when many people pray at once, it is always better“- Tetyana Gudok shares.

On October 31, little Serhiy had his most recent surgery. The next day the boy and his mother were already playing in the playground.

“I can already see some drastic changes in him, the happy Serhiy’s mother shares with CBN-Emmanuel’s journalists. Before the surgery, Sehiy could only say something like “ama”, but today he was clearly saying “Mom”. Our doctor told us, that it was good that Serhiy didn’t start talking before the surgery because he would pronounce the words incorrectly and it would be more difficult to retrain him. But now there won’t be any problems with his speaking abilities. And, the main thing is that Serhiy understands that he is able to talk!”

Thanks to the timely medical help, little Serhiy got rid of his inborn defects with cleft lip, cleft palate and heart defects. Now that the problems are fixed, the boy will not have difficulty communicating, he will be able to express his thoughts and live a normal life!

We sincerely thank all those who helped Serhiy become healthy – all of CBN-Emmanuel’s and Orphan’s Promise’ friends and partners for their prayers and financial contributions and Serigy’s doctors for medical support and compassion.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”. (Matthew 5:16)

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