Combating for Her Life, Far From Ukraine

A 5-year-old Ukrainian lady with a mind tumor was certainly one of a number of kids introduced for remedy in the USA after their nation was invaded by Russia.

MEMPHIS — When Russia invaded Ukraine, Marija Pyzhyk was nonetheless anxious primarily about her 5-year-old daughter, Khrystyna, who was being handled for a mind tumor. The household lived in Lviv, the western metropolis close to Poland, removed from the rockets raining down within the east.

Quickly, nevertheless, Ms. Pyzhyk was knowledgeable that the hospital was about to expire of the treatment to deal with her daughter; she must be evacuated instantly for care out of the country, the physician advised her.

“I had really believed we may proceed our medical remedy in Ukraine,” Ms. Pyzhyk recalled.

Khrystyna’s situation, optic glioma, a most cancers most typical in younger kids, could cause blindness and even loss of life with out constant remedy to shrink or stabilize the tumor. Khrystyna requires each day oral chemotherapy.

On March 16, Ms. Pyzhyk, Khrystyna and her son, Sergei, 10, bid farewell to her husband, Volodymyr, and boarded a bus to Poland, the place they joined a number of different evacuated households with ailing kids. Whereas different households had been directed to hospitals throughout Europe, Ms. Pyzhyk and her kids had been advised they’d be flown to the USA.

“We’re so removed from household and buddies and our homeland,” Ms. Pyzhyk mentioned this week at a hospital in Memphis, the place her daughter is now a affected person. She didn’t hesitate, she mentioned, as a result of Khrystyna’s life trusted it.

Among the many hundreds of thousands of displaced Ukrainians are hundreds of sick kids who may not be handled there. Greater than 400 Ukrainian pediatric most cancers sufferers have handed by Poland en path to medical facilities in different international locations.

Khrystyna was amongst eight Ukrainian kids who arrived in late March at St. Jude Kids’s Analysis Hospital, an establishment specializing in childhood most cancers that’s funded by non-public donors. The hospital had arrange a triage clinic in Poland to establish kids in want of care and place them with partnering hospitals, primarily in Europe.

“If all these kids stayed in Ukraine, they had been going to die of their illness, complication of the remedy of their illness, or conflict,” Dr. James Downing, the chief govt of St. Jude, mentioned in an interview.

Pediatric most cancers remedy requires a fast succession of medicine with excessive depth, he mentioned. “Any interruption of remedy considerably will increase danger for failure, relapse and in the end loss of life from the illness. It’s a timing situation.”

Six days after that they had left Ukraine, the Pyzhyks checked right into a two-bedroom condo at Goal Home, the Memphis hospital’s residential facility, with two suitcases and two small luggage.

After a go to to the hospital, throughout which Khrystyna acquired vaccinations required earlier than commencing her oral remedy, Dr. Ibrahim Qaddoumi requested his little Ukrainian affected person what the Barbie doll she acquired on the hospital was cooking. “Ukrainian borscht,” an interpreter replied.

On an outing later to a global market with two different households, Ms. Pyzhyk looked for buckwheat and bitter yogurt. As they ready to take a look at, the proprietor of the market mentioned they didn’t must pay. “I’ve been by conflict. Two of them,” he mentioned.

At their subsequent cease, an American-style grocery store, they had been dazzled by the big range of produce. On the deli counter, staff provided them samples of salami. “Take your time,” one attendant mentioned.

Ms. Pyzhyk has been often making ready Ukrainian dishes at their condo. However Khrystyna and Sergei most take pleasure in consuming on the hospital cafe, the place they’ll order cheeseburgers, macaroni and cheese and even fried catfish, a Southern basic. Their favourite is hen strips and fries.

Khrystyna is conscious that Ukraine is at conflict, mentioned her mom. “It’s not possible for her to not know what’s going on. She was uncovered to air raid warnings,” she mentioned. “However I don’t assume she is aware of what meaning.”

Again house in Lviv, her husband has fretted about what is going on to his household on the opposite facet of the world, however he mentioned in a cellphone name that his daughter has been courageous all through her yearslong remedy. “My daughter is a robust character,” he mentioned. “She is a real Ukrainian.”

Khrystyna and Sergei have a detailed and tender bond. He’s his sister’s protector, holding her hand once they enter the hospital, stroll to the physician’s workplace or sit down for English classes.

Sergei mentioned he cherished his sister from beginning. “I felt I had a brand new good friend for all times,” he mentioned. “I handle her, however generally we argue like regular folks. It by no means takes too lengthy for us to be buddies once more.”

He’s keenly conscious of his sister’s vulnerability. Glioma can have an effect on the attention, and Khrystyna’s left eyelid is half closed; the world above her eye bulges barely.

Not lengthy after they arrived, Ms. Pyzhyk took her kids and Marya, one other Ukrainian little one, on their first journey to a zoo. They lingered close to the giraffes, lions and zebras, in awe.

However by the tip of the second week, the fact that they weren’t on a trip, and that house was very distant, began to set in.

“Will we fly house right now?” Khrystyna requested her mom at dinner, solely to burst into tears when she heard the response. Sergei tried to consolation his sister, gently massaging her again.