Marina and her husband have two sons named Yegor and Daniel.

At the moment, the family lives in the village of Bakhmutka, where Marina has been taking care of her sick mother who had had a heart attack in the face of all stresses of war.

For some time, Marina and her children lived with their relatives in Slavyansk, but, unfortunately, due to great inconvenience, they had to return to Bakhmutka. Immediately after arrival, the village was subjected to heavy shelling. Marina has experienced all horrors of war – living in the basements, the lack of water and light, fear for the lives of the loved ones … Unemployment and the need to stay at home for her sick mother made their situation even more difficult.

Another thing that continuously broke Marina’s heart was her 13-year-old son Yegor who had been suffering from severe crossed-eye problem. The older Yegor became, the more his problem was expressed.  Yegor was aware of his physical disadvantage and felt inferior.  He wouldn’t want to go out and avoided meetings with his classmates.

Marina took her son to numerous eye-doctors and followed their recommendations but there was no obvious improvement. Moreover, Yegor’s vision gradually worsened and this could have lead to grave consequences in the future. Yegor needed an urgent eye surgery, but the family couldn’t afford it…

One day, Marina heard that the child psychologist Yelena was providing free services in the area and she took Yegor to her class.

Marina shared her concerns, and Yelena advised the woman to contact “Emmanuel” Association and apply for participation in the medical project for internally displaced persons implemented in partnership with “Pope for Ukraine” Initiative. Marina seized on the opportunity believing that her son would finally receive the needed help.

“I know that volunteers in Bakhmutka provided free relief to the needy by brining them food, water and firewood. We were helped many times as well and we have been attending the church services on Tuesdays and Thursdays where the missionaries pray for us and support us”, shares Marina.

It didn’t take long before Marina and Yegor were invited to Kiev for a medical examination. Yegor was thoroughly examined by medical specialists at the “Medical Mobile Clinic”and was referred to Eye Microsurgery Center where he received a consultation of a qualified eye surgeon. It was decided to carry out a surgery to eliminate the crossed-eye problem.

On November 7, Yegor was operated at the Eye Microsurgery Center and the surgery was very successful.  All financial expenses for operation and treatment were covered by  “Emmanuel” Association and “Pope for Ukraine” Initiative.

For half a year, Yegor will have his recovery period and after that he will have to be examined by his eye-doctor again. Thanks to the elimination of the congenital anomaly of the muscles (fibrous muscles), the crossed-eye problem was gone!

“We’d like to thank everyone who helped my son! His treatment will continue, but we already see the results! Yegor is very happy and he is getting used to his new look. We are all very excited that we had this chance to become beneficiaries of this medical project which creates some real miracles for people! We thank God and all of you for this! “

We thank Pope Francis and all caring Catholic Christians who responded to the call for help for victims of the Donbass!