Fight for oncological patients from Chernihiv

"We don't know how much time we have," said Serhiy Zosimenko, a volunteer supporting 11 patients, their doctors and parents. “We don't really know how to survive here, it's unreal. We don't have any more resources. ”

Hospitals in Poland and Slovakia have agreed to continue the treatment of this group of patients, resigning from any fees, but for now children aged 2 to 15 cannot get out of the besieged city. The only option would be helicopter transport.

"The problem is that we cannot evacuate the children from the ground, we can only evacuate them by air," explained Zosimenko. "All roads to our city are mined." Chernihiv is located approximately 90 miles northeast of Kiev, on the way to the Belarusian border. A few days ago, the city was surrounded by Russian forces that were shelling civilian areas including homes, a kindergarten, and a market square. All entry and exit roads have been lined with explosives to defend the city, said the head of the regional administration, Vyacheslav Chaus. "Two days ago, the missile hit 200 meters from our hospital," said Zosimenko, who began collecting building materials to upgrade the basement bomb shelter, medicines and food.
Patients are encouraged by the attitude of the community, and pharmacies and other stores donate to the hospital for free. But some things are already missing. “When people get cancer, they need a lot of pain medication, and we have a problem with morphine and other medications. For example, the Cancer Hospital in Chernihiv has only eight ampoules of morphine or other painkillers. " - Zosimenko informed.

The hospital was not properly prepared for the war, and the shelter was in such terrible condition that the patients' health deteriorated just by sleeping on the floor. So whoever could move to the first floor at night, and with each raid, fled again to the shelter. "Everyone is tired, especially the medical staff, they haven't slept normally for the past week, only two or three hours," said Zosimenko. Some of the doctors and nurses stayed at home with their families.
Those who stayed, try to improve the conditions in the hospital basement for patients, plaster the walls, lay the appropriate flooring, change the lighting and the beds. Help flows to them from all sides - from pharmacies to building yards, to supermarkets. "I live in the greatest country in the world - 40 million people who care about people they don't know," concludes Zosimenko, who works for the Evum charity that supports the pediatric oncology department. Apart from the fact that, together with other volunteers, he is looking for the most necessary supplies for the hospital, he is also preparing to fight. He brought his own rifle to the hospital and together with the fathers of children treated with cancer, he created an informal protection unit.

"We are willing to lay down our own lives, but we don't want to lay down the lives of these children." Zosimenko adds: “Every time I come to that locker and see the rifle, I am reminded of what has happened here for the last six days, I feel a certain stress inside me. Again, I remember that someone started a war in my country. If I don't die here in the next two weeks, it will be a miracle. ”

Source: The Guardian