'It was a big risk': Mom flees Ukraine with daughter and disabled son
Liudmilya Samokhvalova held her son Mark upright on a sunny porch in Nebraska. The 10-year-old is nonverbal and has dystonia 바카라 게임 웹사이트 he cannot walk. The serenity around them starkly contrasts with the world they escaped only months ago.
"You feel every second that they can bomb your house," said Samokhvalova, a Ukrainian native and mother of two.
Samohvalova would carry Mark down the stairs to the bomb shelter when the sirens sounded. His 6-year-old sister Yeva was close behind.
"Sometimes I feel like I want to scream. It was so difficult," Samokhvalova said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트It바카라 게임 웹사이트s difficult to lift Mark all the time.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Weeks into the war, the young mother lifted Mark again, headed for the Polish border, not the basement.
"I have not a choice,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Samokhvalova said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트I just have not a choice."
They left Poltava, a city between Kyiv and Kharkiv with Samokhvalova바카라 게임 웹사이트s aging parents. But a different danger followed them.
"[Mark] has epilepsy,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Samokhvalova said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트And I have no medicine. If something happened, it was a big risk."
A risk she felt obligated to take.
They took what they could carry, strapped Mark바카라 게임 웹사이트s stroller to the roof of the car and drove for five days, with Mark lying across the backseat.
"Just scared for not even you, for kids," Samokhvalova said.
They spent months in Poland, wondering when, and if, they'd return home.
"I can't find any words to describe how difficult it was," said Samokhvalova바카라 게임 웹사이트s mother, Tamara.
The family dared to hope that they might find a new home, at least for now, in America.
바카라 게임 웹사이트I still don't believe I'm here, it's still shock," Samokhvalova said.
One Omaha man made the journey possible.
"It's amazing step, what he did to us," a tearful Samokhvalova said.
While Andrew DeFonzo is away on business, his Millard house is usually empty. Now, however, it is a refuge filled with toys and medicine.
"It worked out perfectly so they could come over to the house, stay there, get some much-needed comfort and sense of safety," DeFonzo said.
DeFonzo met Samokhvalova online while working abroad a few years ago. They didn't meet in person until the family stepped foot on U.S. soil.
"When this came along the stars just kind of aligned," said DeFonzo, who is serving as the family바카라 게임 웹사이트s sponsor 바카라 게임 웹사이트 anyone coming to the U.S. under the Biden administration's 바카라 게임 웹사이트Uniting for Ukraine바카라 게임 웹사이트 program needs one. "It's a much bigger thing than just getting them over here and finding a place to live for them."
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