OBI intervenes for girl with cancer

Posted: January 18, 2007   By: John Patrick and Rich Santoro

Video: Eliza's battle with cancer

KIEV, Ukraine - At age 3, young Eliza had already made two enemies: time and money.

After closing up the little girl's body, the surgeon told the mother to take her daughter home. There was no way to save the 3-year-old cancer patient named Eliza.

"They told us she would only survive for an hour or two," said Eliza's grandmother.

Doctors removed cancerous tumors from lymph nodes on her right side, however additional tumors were discovered elsewhere in her body. Removal of the new growths would require a series of chemotherapy treatments before further surgery could be attempted.

And the price tag was steep.

Already the family was struggling to survive on their farm, having depleted their savings to pay the mounting medical bills. In Ukraine, medical expenses such as doctor's visits, procedures and medicine must be paid for ahead of time – and in cash – before services will be provided.

Fortunately, help was on the way. Working with a local hospital, Operation Blessing paid for Eliza to receive 13 chemotherapy treatments – a year's worth – as well as supplied her with the vitamins and medicine needed to give her a fighting chance at recovery.

Two years later, Eliza is five years old and cancer-free.

"I didn't even think people like this existed. In the village where we lived, no one helped us." said her grandmother. "It was like a resurrection for our little child. She came back to life, and it was because you helped."

Eliza's mother echoed the sentiment.

"I just want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart," she said. "I ask people to continue to help folks like us who don't have the money to provide medical care for their sick children."

In Kiev, Operation Blessing is doing just that.

When the Ukrainian government invited OBI to establish a charitable health clinic in a vacant government building on the outskirts of Kiev, OBI agreed.

In collaboration with local medical groups and Smile Alliance – an American organization specializing in dental missions – OBI pooled a variety of resources to help develop the clinic.

At the clinic's grand opening in October of last year, a Russian Orthodox pries blessed the building and OBI staff were on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

On the first day the clinic, some 50 patients received free medical care, many of whom had been rejected from the local hospital because they could not afford the services.