A Newborn's Fight for Life

Earlier this year, we received this startling message from Alina about one of her new ladies at the Women’s Crisis Centre.

“Please pray. We have a pregnant girl here, Svetlana. She's 33 weeks pregnant and has been wandering the streets with her daughter for a long time. We arranged an ultrasound for her and the news wasn’t good – her baby is not doing well. It's a boy. With the birth being imminent, we are being asked to hospitalise her at a private clinic that has a paediatric intensive care unit. The baby needs urgent oesophageal surgery. Doctors predict that mum will need to be induced early and the baby will need special care until the oesophagus can be operated on and restored.”

-Alina

A baby with this condition is unable to pass food from the mouth to the stomach and may have difficulty breathing. Helping with the cost of this new mother’s needs was urgent and the baby would need surgery within days after his birth. The procedure would be to either repair his existing oesophagus or make a new one from part of his intestine – either way, it was going to mean big surgery for this tiny baby.

We had to give this baby a chance so said to go ahead and book mum Svetlana into hospital. Svetlana also came with a young daughter who was just one and a half years old. After surgery, there would be a long recovery period necessary, so Alina and the other WCC volunteers would care for her during this time.

Svetlana was admitted late February. She gave birth on 10th March, and named him Dima. His surgery was then scheduled for 15th March.

We waited a few days and, praise God, we heard that surgery went well and now it was a matter of recovery!

Today, baby Dima is doing well, mum is more relaxed, and able to enjoy and care for both her children without the fear of homelessness hanging over her.

Urgent situations like these are a frequent occurrence at both our crisis centres.

When someone new arrives, they often have specific needs that have been neglected and unaddressed for many years. We are so thankful that, until now, being there to help has been tricky - but possible!

Our fractured world of war and financial sanctions is jeopardising the future of Love Russia being able to step in and love people in this way. For those like Svetlana and her young family - it is important we don't give up hope. Please continue praying for peace, and for a permanent solution that will enable ministry like this to go on.