My dear ones… It was difficult for me to write anything in the first days of the war. The thoughts did not keep pace with emotions, the emotions did not keep pace with the actions. I did not know what to write to console anyone who was involved in this situation: our care-receivers and volunteers, our friends and relatives on both sides, our children … For our psyche, there is no difference if a terrible thing happens with us or with those far away. What matters for it is the feeling and experience at the present moment. To help yourself, you need to help others!
And we just have started to work.
During the fortnight of the war in Ukraine, we have helped to about 115 people to leave the war zone. We have sent several cars with humanitarian cargo for refugees at Polish border. We have supported them upon arrival to Germany and have found the housing for about 80 people. Mainly, we have helped the families with seriously ill and disabled children, the families with many children, and single elderly people.

Some of these we knew well already, some we did not. Yet now – after we have pulled them out from under shelling, from the rubble, from the basements of destroyed and deenergized houses, have transferred then in overcrowded trains, buses, cars in endless traffic jams on shelled roads, have settled the exhausted at night in filled-to-the-brim city of Lviv, have supported while they stood in a 28-hour line at the border crossing, have found a place for them at another side of the border or sent immediately to Germany with a bus or train, have met at the stations of Berlin or Munich, given shelter, wiped away their tears , let to take a shower and sleep in a safe place for the first time in fortnight – after all this we regard them as a family.

I wish to thank our crisis team volunteers. They hardly slept for the first week, forgot about food, stayed in touch 20 hours a day, supported each other, gave themselves only 20 minutes of rest a day: to go out and exhale – to look at spring and their children, to remain sane and able to help. They wrote and called to hundreds of people, and persistently searched for a way out and help for everyone who appealed to us!
Thank you for being there! Thanks to all the organizations and volunteers in Germany, Ukraine and Russia with whom we could save lives together. Thank you for supporting all this work with your prayers, information, and money! We continue to help! We pay for medicines, treatment, subsistence for everyone who has suffered from this war. And the most defenseless ones – the sick children – have suffered the most. Some have lost their homes and loved ones, cannot receive their medicines and treatment. The others have become the hostages of sanctions: they lost access to vital medicines, the
means to continue treatment, and cannot get to European clinics where they are expected to save their lives. We are – all together, regardless of nationality and place of residence – humans. We have a common task to do – to help others. Thank you to everyone who is trying to keep peace inside the soul and in outer world!

In March, your help is awaited by:

YANA KORNITSKA, 3 y. o., Lviv region, Ukraine. Diagnosis: juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The girl was treated unsuccessfully at a place of residence for more than a year. After this, the doctors recommended to turn to a German clinic. There, they prescribed Yana the drug called tofacitinib. A professor in the German clinic has recommended a surgical correction of the hip joints, but a year course of tofacitinib is required first. The cost of the medicine for 1 year is EUR 2500. This is very big money for the family.

ANASTASIA KIRINSKAYA, 24 years old, Samara, Russia. Diagnosis: Kearns-Sayre Syndrome. Anastasia has a rare and severe disease. Only about 200 people in the world have been diagnosed with this. The syndrome affects many organs, heart included. In 2012, Anastasia was equipped with the first antiarrhythmic device, which turned out to be ineffective. In 2016, the girl got help in Germany: at the Charité clinic in Berlin they install a complex system that synchronizes the work of her heart. Yet the battery was depleted by the end of 2021. There was no way to replace it in Russia. In January 2022, another successful operation was performed in Berlin Cardiology Center with the participation of specialists in the field of rare diseases of Charite University Hospital. The threat to life has been removed. It remains to complete the adjustment of the cardio-resynchronization system and organize remote monitoring of it. Anastasia also needs a consultation of an endocrinologist and an ophthalmologist, and the treatment by an immunologist-allergist. The overall cost including the plane tickets amounts to about EUR 6000.

BOGDANA KOMAROVA, 9 y. o., Yekaterinburg, Russia. Diagnosis: congenital malformation of the spinal cord; shunt-dependent hydrocephalus; Arnold- Chiari syndrome, paraparesis, diabetes type 1(insulin-dependent). After her birth Bogdana underwent a series of severe operations on the spinal cord. This has been done despite the disappointing prognosis. However, the defect in the spinal cord has led to a number of complications. She requires a professional rehabilitation at Dobezny Center for Adaptive Physical Culture in Russia. This course will bring Bogdana’s muscles to a good shape. The cost is EUR 1000.

Let me conclude with several words of a psychologist. In a situation where the information flow is overwhelming, and it is not clear where the truth is, you better switch to positive activities. Do something related to taking care of yourself or your loved ones. Decide for yourself whether you need negative emotions now. Do they help you or hinder you in some way? And if you answer is – they hinder, you have to try to reduce the negative background. If to give people anything now, then it should be reconciliation.

HURRY TO DO GOOD!
I wish health to you all! Take care of yourself and your loved ones!
I embrace you heartily,
Yours Alina Titova