Glad my child is alive

Larysa, her husband, daughter and their cat Bella spent four days and nights in the basement of their home in Kharkiv, northeast Ukraine, to hide from the bombing. They escaped on March 1.

“Everyone wanted to travel out of Kharkiv. Getting on the train was difficult due to the crowds,” Larysa says.

The trip to the refugee shelter in Berehove on the Hungarian border took four days.

“We are happy to have a place to sleep where it is warm. We get food three times a day, we can wash and do our laundry,” she says. More importantly, “I am glad my child is alive.”

But Larysa’s troubles are not over.

She has cancer.

Larysa was receiving treatment in Kharkiv, but the hospital was destroyed in the bombings. Now she hopes she will be able to get treatment in Hungary.

She says she also hopes for peace, so they can return to Kharkiv some day.

In the meantime, our members are ensuring that Larysa, her husband, daughter and cat are being well cared-for.