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On Nov. 28th, Alina will be 11 years old. Eight years previously, Alina was trapped in a house fire when her alcoholic mother had
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Alina after the house fire |
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left Alina and her little sister, who died in the fire, home alone. Alina received massive burns to over 70% of her body. As a direct response to this horrific event, Dr. Peter Johnston spurred Hope Now on to provide significant skin grafting equipment for the Burn Unit at Cherkassy Regional Hospital.
Sadly, it was much later that Alina came into the cottage home at Dumantsi with Hope Now foster parents, Natasha and Vitalii. Only then could the real healing process begin, not just the external scars but the inner scars of neglect. Even to this day, Alina goes to the market place to beg, not because she needs to but because it's how she learned to survive. There are other health issues that date back to the dark days and she is also behind her peers at school due to long periods spent in the hospital. Alina has no contact with her mother and made no response when her grandmother visited her in Dumantsi. However, she says, "I dearly love my mother, sister Natasha and my father Vitalii".
Over the past months, with financial help from Hope Now partners, Alina has been going to a hospital in Kyiv for extensive surgical work to reduce her scarring. Three ugly scars on the top of her head have been reduced; three on her face have been removed, along with one from her hand and a much larger one from the right leg from the knee down to the toes.
The next phase is to address the left side of her face and the extensive damage to her left leg.
The medical fund is now at a ten year low due to the many demands placed upon it. Often this is needed instantly to meet critical situations. We hate to tell needy parents, "Your child cannot be helped". Please prayerfully consider a year-end donation to the Medical Fund so that we can continue to help children like Alina.
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