The daunting health challenges facing sick and disabled children in Ukraine are a cruel reminder that the war’s tentacles stretch far beyond the front line. They have suffered from misdiagnoses, lapses in treatment, a lack of access to specialized food and physical therapy, displacement and the unrelenting stress of war.
Frequent power outages have endangered those dependent on oxygen and other machines requiring electricity.
In the face of these obstacles, families with sick and disabled children are carving out their own paths for survival in hospitals, orphanages and private homes, often with the help of humanitarian groups.
Organizations like Tabletochki and BlueCheck Ukraine are supporting children with cancer, autism, cerebral palsy and a range of physical and psychological needs.
Living with her family in the Kirovohrad region of central Ukraine, Sonya had been diagnosed in October 2020 with retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer that affects children. She was 2 years old. According to the American Cancer Society, more than nine in 10 children with retinoblastoma are cured — especially if the cancer is treated before it spreads beyond the eye.
Almost immediately, Sonya underwent surgery in Odesa to remove the tumor, losing her left eye.
Her illness came at a challenging time. Months before, Sonya’s father had abandoned the family after bouts of infidelity. With little money, Sonya’s mother, Natalia Kryvolapchuk, was facing looming eviction while taking care of a sick toddler, her 3-year-old sister and an infant son.
Over the next 16 months, Sonya completed more than a dozen courses of chemotherapy and 25 sessions of radiation. At first she was traveling to Odesa for treatment but then Natalia learned about a shelter called Misto Dobra, “The City of Goodness.” She submitted Sonya’s diagnosis, and applied for free room and board and child care for herself and her three children.
They moved there in June 2021 and Sonya shifted her treatment to the Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, the most renowned pediatric cancer center in Ukraine.
The War Intervenes
Misto Dobra is tucked away in Chernivtsi, a city near the Romanian border in southwestern Ukraine. It is far from the fighting, but the war is present in the psychological and physical trauma of its inhabitants: orphans, displaced civilians, survivors of domestic violence, and children with terminal illnesses or serious disabilities.
Some 250 women and children live in six buildings across the campus. The shelter’s founder, Marta Levchenko, fosters a community of doctors, nurses and caregivers who operate with respect, kindness and patience. Air raid sirens are few; there are no apparent military bases near the town, making it less of a target.
On Feb. 24, 2022, Sonya and her mother, Natalia, were preparing to travel from Misto Dobra to Kyiv for another round of chemotherapy when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The roads surrounding the capital were unsafe, and the hospital redirected most staff to treat war wounded.
Sonya’s chemotherapy was canceled, and she and her mother were sent to Poland along with other children receiving treatment at Ohmatdyt. Her brother and sister remained with a caregiver at the shelter.
The war’s intervention proved damaging. In Warsaw, doctors conducted a fresh series of tests, which took time. Sonya received no actual treatment for more than two months.