Bashful Heart
// Ruslan Kovinko needs an operation in Germany
The boy is 10. He has a congenital heart disease, multiple defects of the interventricular septum and mitral valve dysplasia. He is calm, like all people who have problems with heart. He was twice operated in Russia: first as he was 8 months old, and then – as he was 4 years old. Now he needs a third operation – in Germany. The family doesn’t lack the money – it is simply destitute.
“Thank God! Thank God!” Alexandra Feodorovna says. “Thank God! It got a little bit better.”
Alexandra Feodorovna is Ruslan’s great-grandaunt. She is 80, and Ruslan has lived with her for 5 years already. Ruslan’s mother… no, we won’t even say anything about her, except for mentioning that she has been denied parental rights. Ruslan had lived with his grandmother till 4 years old. She had insular diabetes, and five years ago both of them went hospital simultaneously. The grandmother’s leg was amputated because it had been affected badly by diabetic gangrene. The boy’s heart was operated on for the second time. He was small but he remembers waking up in the reanimation and seeing plastic tubes that stuck out of his mouth.
Every morning Alexandra Feodorovna went to the cardiological center and did what she could to take proper care of the boy with plastic tubes in his mouth. At midday she went to the hospital to her niece, Ruslan’s grandmother, to cleanse her bedsores. And the niece would grab her aunt’s hand and beg her to swear that she would never leave the boy and wouldn’t allow the guardianship authority to place the boy in a children’s home. “He won’t survive there,” she’d say.
And then Alexandra Feodorovna would go to the cardiological center to visit Ruslan, saw the boy with plastic tubes in his mouth and it was clear to her that the boy would hardly survive in a children’s home.
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Then Ruslan’s grandmother died, and Ruslan was taken to an orphanage as he left hospital. Alexandra Feodorovna went to guardianship officials pledging them to make her the guardian of Ruslan. But they wouldn’t let it. The law prohibits an old person from being a guardian. According to the law, a guardian must be a young and vigorous person, who is likely to live up to the child’s coming of age. And Alexandra Feodorovna was already 75 at that time. Besides, the law reads that a guardian must have the money to bring up the child. And Alexandra Feodorovna had nothing, except for her pension.
“Thank God!” Alexandra Feodorovna says. “It got a little bit better. I used to have a pension of 1.400 roubles ($56), and then it grew, now I have 1.600 roubles ($64). It got a bit better.”
Finally Ruslan’s godfather agreed to become the boy’s guardian, but the boy still lives with Alexandra Feodorovna. And it really got better.
The boy goes to an orthodox school, where he stays Monday through Friday. There he has meals, and there they give him clothes. At school Ruslan has a friend, Gosha. He has even visited Ruslan with his father. It was the first time that someone visited Ruslan. Besides, Gosha gave Ruslan a Gameboy (a pocket digital device) as a present, and now Ruslan can play cars on th monitor. Now he has a toy. He likes it so much that when we came to him, he even asked us to take a shot of him and his toy. For him, it’s like a photo with a celebrity or at Niagara Falls.
Actually digital toys are prohibited in the orthodox school. Though you can see films there. There Ruslan saw the first film in his life. Also, there is a swimming-pool there. A good one, and it’s a pleasure to swim in it. But Ruslan is not allowed to swim. And he can’t go to the gym. And he can’t play games at the sports ground, though there is a good sports ground at school.
And a few months ago the brother of Ruslan’s guardian went to Sakhalin with his whole family letting Ruslan and Alexandra Feodorovna live in his flat. There are a lot of toys there left by the man’s children. Ruslan doesn’t dare take them because he fears he can break them. But you can watch the toys all day long – they are so beautiful. And they won’t get broken if you just watch them.
And one more thing: Ruslan has a table now – his own table that he can put his copy-books on and read books at. He should do it carefully in order not to tear the books – they are so expensive. Some of them cost as much as 50 roubles ($2)!
Alexandra Feodorovna has brought her frying pans to this flat. Here, the pans are teflon, and Alexandra Feodorovna is afraid to scratch them. She means that if she scratches one accidentally, she would never be able to pay the money for it.
So that’s the way they live. And now imagine – they need ˆ36.000 for an operation in Germany.
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1.062.800 roubles needed to rescue Ruslan Kovinko, 10!
Ruslan Kovinko and his grandmother Alexandra Feodorovna Kireeva live in the Moscow region, not far from the MKAD (Moscow Automobile Ring Road). Alexandra Feodorovna has a few friends in Moscow who helped her to e-mail to the Berlin cardiological center, which pledges to heal Ruslan.
According to Stanislav Ovrutsky, cardiac surgeon with the center, Ruslan needs the operation badly. “The boy has a congenital heart disease, transposition of the main arteries, multiple defects of the interventricular septum and mitral valve dysplasia. It is a so-called blue disease. Two operations have been carried out, another one is required. It will be the final stage of the surgery treatment and it will allow adjusting blood circulation, improving the oxygenation of the heart and lowering heart load. In case the operation is carried out, you can expect a positive outcome: shortness of breath and cyanosis will be eliminated, and the boy will lead a relatively normal way of life.”
ˆ36.000 is required now. It includes a ward, checkup, operation and post-operation care. As usual, our permanent partner, the Kapital investment group, will donate 262.000 roubles. So another 1.062.800 is needed. It’s a big sum, and we’ll appreciate every rouble you may donate. The clinic in Germany will receive charitable contributions of ˆ5.000 and more. Donations in roubles can be transferred to the account of Ruslan’s guardian, Igor Victorovich Dmitrichenko (he went to Germany with the boy), or to the account of the “Pomoshch” (Relief) charity fund, whose founders are the Kommersant Publishing House and Lev Ambinder. You will receive a report card with the details of the money transfer. You can get all account details with the Fund.
Russian Aid Fund experts
Valery Panyushkin, specially for Russian Aid Fund
All the Article in Russian as of May 16, 2008
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