1.07.2006 Vova B-ev, aged 2 years 3 months, is from an orphanage in Elista (Republic of Kalmykia, southern part of Volga region). Vova was admitted to the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery. His diagnosis is cleft hard and soft palate. It is his third visit to the RCCH, and the next surgery is planned. Anzhela, a nurse from his orphanage, takes care of this kid at the hospital. Vova is very charming and sociable, and at the same time quite calm and obedient. He is a smart boy and likes to listen when somebody reads books to him.

29.06.2006 Elvira S., a girl of 13, is under treatment at the Department of Urology. She is from the Lipetsk region (European Russia, south of Moscow). It is her third visit to our hospital. She was treated here in 2004/2005, and now she will have a medical examination. She likes drawing and embroidering. She is also a basketball fan at her school and would be happy to play basketball herself, but, unfortunately, the doctors do not allow her. At the hospital, she also got interested in making beadwork. A girl from the same ward told us that Elvira felt very uneasy at first, because she was afraid of being lonely at hospital. But volunteers visit her, and she also met new friends at the department. So she is not bored at all.
13.07.2006 Elvira's surgery is over. She is feeling more or less all right.
18.07.2006 Elvira has at last been allowed to walk out of her department. For her, the first thing to do was to visit the hospital library and to take new books. She loves the Harry Potter series and other fantasy stories.
1.08.2006 Elvira was discharged from hospital and went home.
23.11.2009 We have got fine news about Elvira: she lives in a new family now!

8.06.2006 Milena L. was admitted to the Department of Microvascular Surgery. This five-year-old girl is from Yakutia. She is accompanied by a very good nurse from her orphanage: Anastasia Rufadievna had also brought another girl, little Vika O., to our hospital in autumn. The nurse said that Vika was simply unrecognizable when they returned to their orphanage: the little girl became much stronger and looked much healthier. After the surgery, the girl's condition improved greatly: she became more sociable, began to develop intellectually, and even learned to walk by herself this spring!
Seeing these wonderful results, the administration of this orphanage decided to send Milena to our hospital, hoping that the doctors would help in her case, too. The child has a grave congenital venous disorder: the Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber syndrome. Her extremities are affected especially gravely: the venous drainage is markedly inadequate, and the arms and legs are often cyanotic and swollen (the so-called elephantiasis). Her right leg alone weighs over 8 kg! The girl has already undergone one surgery in Yakutia, where the doctors managed to operate the veins on her trunk but did not risk operating on her leg. Now the girl is under medical examination. Unfortunately, it is most likely that the leg will have to be amputated. It is a difficult and risky surgery, but we hope that the doctors will cope with it.
The girl is smart, sociable, friendly, and kind. She has already made friends with other kids at her department and plays with them, although walking is a real problem for her. She loves dolls and other toys.
Milena will need a child wheelchair, because there are none at her orphanage. Please help the girl!
20.06.2006 The doctors are performing laser therapy and making Milena ready for the surgery. At the department, everybody treats the girl with attention and compassion. The parents and children share their toys and sweets with her. Our volunteers also constantly visit her; Milena calls them "good aunties" and likes these visits a lot.
6.07.2006 After all the necessary medical examinations, the doctors are now preparing for Milena's surgery. They have confirmed that her leg will be amputated. And then... lots of problems arise.
Milena's illness requires constant control and regular qualified medical interventions. However, everything that could be done in Yakutia for Milena has already been done. (And note that the doctors at Milena's orphanage in Yakutia are good and attentive; during all these years, they kept close watch on her condition and sent her to hospitals whenever necessary.)
Also, Milena may not stay at a pre-school orphanage for an indefinite time. Officially, such institutions in Russia host only children under three, and Milena is already 5.5 years old... The only thing that awaits her afterwards is an asylum for disabled persons. The administration of Milena's orphanage has tried to keep her at this orphanage as long as possible, understanding that such an asylum can give Milena neither good care (which is vitally necessary for her) nor education. But Milena is a very smart and quick-witted girl. It is a pleasure to teach her. And, at the same time, she has very sweet temper: sociable, kind, and sympathetic.
The orphanage nurse who has come to Moscow with Milena must soon go back to Yakutsk. But the girl needs long treatment, and so she just may not go home now.
We remind you once more: Milena will need a wheelchair after the surgery. Subsequently, she will need an expensive prosthesis. Your help is necessary!
13.07.2006 We thank Olga, Alexander, and anonymous contributors who have helped in buying a wheelchair for Milena. This wheelchair has been ordered and paid for. We also thank Natasha and her husband, who drove the girl and her nurse to the company that produces the required wheelchairs in order to choose the exact necessary size.
3.10.2006 Milena is more or less all right. Soon she will go to a rehabilitation center for children. Svetlana, who works at the representative office of Yakutia (Sakha Republic) in Moscow, helps Milena and provides her with all the necessary things, including seasonal clothes.
26.10.2006 Milena and her nurse are currently living at a rehabilitation center near Moscow. Our volunteer Nadezhda visited them last Sunday and was glad to see that Milena will have many restorative procedures at this center. Besides, there are good playrooms, and a speech therapist and a psychologist work with Milena every day. The girl is happy to stay there. Also, the staff of Milena's orphanage in Yakutsk remember her and regularly phone us to learn about her condition.
11.11.2006 Milena has returned to our hospital from the rehabilitation center. After good rest, her condition as to the main disease has become better.
12.09.2007 Milena L-na together with her nurse Tanya left for Foldi Klinik (Germany) today. Specialists of that hospital had expected Milena to come there three months ago, but it proved to be very difficult to send an orphan girl for treatment abroad. It was a real problem to make foreign passports for Milena and her nurse. However, the bureaucratic obstacles have been overcome. Let us wish successful treatment to Milena and good luck to her nurse.
5.10.2007 Milena has undergone the necessary examinations. Special boots have been ordered for her, and now she is receiving massage and combined treatment. As a result, her vessels have become much better and the volume of her leg has decreased greatly. Milena likes her hospital department: there is a lot of various art therapy there, and it is always interesting. Milena sends everybody her best regards. So far we know that her stay at the Munich hospital will last at least five weeks instead of the previously planned four weeks.
30.10.2007 Milena is back from Germany. She has completed her therapy at the Foeldi clinic. Special treatment (drainage and massage) has reduced the volume of fluid in her affected leg by 4 liters! According to the results of examinations, the physicians decided that surgery is not necessary so far. But regular courses of conservative treatment will be required.
19.08.2008 Milena has left for Yakutsk. She spent over two years at our hospital, since June 2006, leaving it only for out-patient rehabiilitation treatment and for a surgery in Germany (2007).
In 2008, she had an operation at our hospital and underwent intensive postoperative treatment and rehabilition. Now Milena is to return to Yakutsk for some formalities with her disability documents and future school studies, and she is to be back in Moscow in January 2009. She was reluctant to leave the hospital, although our nurse Natalya went to accompany her. And when Milena comes back, she will probably live in our new cottage for orphan patients. She has long been dreaming about it.
25.04.2009 Our old friend Milena has again appeared at the Department of Microvascular Surgery for surgical treatment. The girl is glad to see Moscow and her hospital friends again.
15.06.2009 Milena has been transferred to the new rehabilitation center of the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital.
29.01.2010 When Milena first came to our hospital from Yakutia in 2006, she was only five years old. Over all these years, our foundation has been providing various kinds of aid to her. Milena is our dear friend, and our new rehabilitation center has become a real home for her.
On January 23, Milena celebrated her 9th birthday there. It was a real party with guests, lots of presents, beautiful dresses and dancing. Milena said that it was the best birthday in her life. See the photographs below.

16.03.2010 Milena has come back to the hospital after a rehabilitation course. We missed her very much!

5.06.2006 Nastya Zh-na is from the town of Vologda. She is 17. She has been admitted to the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery for a follow-up operation. She had her previous surgery also at the RCCH, in 2003. Nastya will soon graduate from school (she is in the 11th grade now) and then go to a vocational school, where she is going to become a house painter and plasterer.
Nastya is a quiet, shy, and serious girl. She loves reading and embroidering.
20.06.2006 Nastya has had her surgery, which was successful.
29.06.2006 Nastya is quickly recovering after her maxillofacial surgery. Now she is already feeling fine. Some days ago, she showed us her photo album and surprised everybody: on one of the photographs, she is standing (in an improbably beautiful dress decorated with embroidery and lace) near Valentin Yudashkin, a famous couturier. It turned out that Nastya is also great at handiwork and has mastered the traditional techniques of embroidery, sewing, and lace-making. Nastya and her colleagues from the folk art studio had brought their works to an exhibition in Moscow and received much approval. We just don't understand why the managers of Nastya's boarding school make her learn a completely different profession.
1.07.2006 Nastya has been discharged from hospital. Let us wish her all the best and hope that somehow she will manage to continue and develop her creative work, for which she has genuine talent.
25.11.2006 Nastya is back to our hospital for follow-up surgery. We were sad to learn that this gifted girl, who is so good at sewing and all kinds of handiwork, indeed had to become a house painter and plasterer. But a girl from an orphanage could not choose...
27.11.2006 Nastya has had her surgery. Everything was all right.
17.01.2007 Nastya has been discharged from the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery. Just as even, we were enraptured by her handiwork. Such skilful hands! The girl will return to the hospital six months later.

5.06.2006 Inna P. from Moscow is 13 years old. She has been admitted for a medical examination at the Department of Gynecology and will stay there up to June 9. This girl is nice, polite, and intellectually developed. She likes reading magazines. She also loves horses and rides horses a little herself.
20.06.2006 After the medical examination, Inna went home from our hospital.

15.05.2006 Little Vika I., a girl of three, has been admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery. This girl from an orphanage in Pskov had a surgery in that town for congenital hydrocephaly. A bypass was installed, and the girl developed normally until recently. However, her condition has now suddenly deteriorated for no definite reason: the muscles became so hypotonic that Vika could barely move even her arms. She was sent to the RCCH for a medical examination.
A highly professional nurse is taking care of Vika here. We got to know Svetlana Alexeevna almost a year ago, when little Vitalik M. was at our hospital. And now this nurse, even before learning the results of the examination, began to take intense care of the girl. She reads books and fairy tales to Vika, recites child verse and sings songs, plays with the girl and speaks to her, carries the kid in her arms... And after three days at hospital, Vika again started to eat by herself using a spoon, and then she got up and walked along the passage holding her nurse's hand. The girl turned out to be a charming, sociable, quiet, and smiling creature. She understands everything and easily gets into contact with people around her. She is quite smart for her age. Her eyes are notably squinting, but the doctors say that this is due to muscular causes rather than neurological ones. The ophthalmologist recommends a surgery to eliminate it, but it should just take place a bit later, after the girl turns five. Part of examinations concerning the kid's brain have already been performed, and the other part will take place in the nearest few days. Let us wait for the results. However, even now one can see that Vika's condition is improving very fast only owing to adequate care and communication with a kind and sensible adult person. We hope that there is nothing serious with Vika and that she will find a loving mother.
20.05.2006 The doctors have performed all the examinations for Vika. There are no cerebral disorders, and the bypass system is functioning properly. Actually, all the bad symptoms have disappeared during Vika's stay at our hospital: the girl behaves as a charming and smart kid; walks and eats by herself, plays with the children at the department, and speaks to adults; she is interested in everything around her. To put it in a few words, she is just a completely normal and healthy kid, who needed somebody's kind attention to "come to her senses."
When we thanked her nurse and joked that she deserved a government award, Svetlana Alexeevna replied that an extra pack of diapers for Vika would be better...
22.05.2006 Since Vika will not need any surgery, she has been transferred from the Department of Neurosurgery to the Department of Psychoneurology-2 for rehabilitation.
20.06.2006 Vika has been discharged from hospital in fine condition. But the girl needs a family!
6.07.2006 The members of the orphanage staff who had come to take Vika home told us that the girl will soon be transferred to an asylum for disabled persons, where, alas, she can hardly expect any good development of her life. It was very painful for us to hear this. Vika's nurse Svetlana, who is presently taking care of another small kid at our hospital, was especially sad. She loves Vika and feels deeply concerned about her destiny.
Svetlana has brought us a touching short letter and asked us to place it on our Web site in hope that it may help the girl find a family:
"Vika I. is a little girl of three. So fragile and curious, waiting for warmth and kindness. She has a great potential, which helps her cope with her illnesses and other troubles. If she receives proper upbringing and treatment, she will develop like any normal kid in a family. But she will perish without love and care.
Please, if you have a kind heart, don't leave this child to die in the ocean of indifference and neglect! You will receive so much love from this small heart as a reward for your kindness!"
4.02.2007 Vika I. arrived in Moscow last week. Now she has mother Polina, father Dima, little brother Makar and sister Dunyasha, grandmothers and grandfathers. Of course, it will not be easy for the family. Vika needs serious and long rehabilitation. But her new mother and father hope that they will cope with all the problems. Their relatives supported them in this decision, lovingly greeted Vika, and are ready to help the young parents. Of course, physicians from our hospital will also continue helping the little girl.

Sasha Z., aged 2.5 years, has been admitted to the Abdominal Department of the RCCH from the Urai town orphanage (Khanty-Mansiisk region): the doctors at his orphanage have noticed something like a tumor on his liver. A careful and highly qualified medical nurse from this orphanage is taking care of Sasha at the hospital.
Sasha's mother is a drug addict, and she has abandoned her child. However, the boy looks healthy and happy, lively and sociable. His physical and mental development are just as should be at his age. This boy's condition shows that children at the Urai orphanage receive good medical and pedagogical care. The medical nurse also says that a potential adoptive family is interested in Sasha.
5.05.2006 An examination at the RCCH did not confirm the presence of a lesion in the boy's liver. However, it turned out that he has a certain congenital intestinal disorder, not a very grave one, but still requiring a surgery.
16.05.2006 Sasha's surgery took place a few days ago. He has already been transferred back to his department from the intensive care unit.
28.05.2006 Sasha has been discharged from hospital in good condition. He will arrive here for a check six months later. It would be wonderful if he came next time with his new mother. Let us wish good luck to this charming boy!

16.05.2006 Yulia has been transferred to the Diagnostic Department, where the conditions are very good. She and her nurse live in a separate ward, which is comfortable and quiet.

26.10.2006 We are happy to tell you that a family of Muscovites has adopted little Yulia, who has received so much help and attention from lots of people, both doctors and volunteers! Before the end of all the legal formalities, the girl returned to the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, where she had a successful operation. She was discharged from hospital two days ago to go to her new home and loving parents. Before this departure, her new mother came to the hospital church and thanked everybody who helped cure the kid during all these months. She was especially grateful to Dr. Andrei V. Lopatin, Head of Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, for his extraordinary professional skill and attentive attitude to his little patients and their parents.

Denis M. from a specialized orphanage in Kolomna, a town in the Moscow region, was admitted to the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery in April 2006. This boy is 6 years old.
The boy is smart, polite, obedient, and capable. An examination showed that the boy's diagnosis is wrong: no surgery on his palate is required. Actually, the boy needs only lessons with a good speech therapist. The psychoneurologist also says that the boy's intellectual and speech development are quite normal for his age and there is no need for him to attend a specialized school for retarded children. But, unfortunately, the doctors cannot influence the local officials who make such decisions.
Before the beginning of May, Denis was discharged from hospital and returned to his school.

Tanya O-va is also from a specialized school in Kolomna near Moscow. She had a successful surgery at the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery for cleft hard and soft palate at the end of April 2006 and was discharged before the beginning of May. This restless and active girl likes various pranks and often plays them together with her friend Nastya Zh. While Denis M. was at hospital, he helped the medical staff to cope with the girls. Both girls have poor speech development. We hope that the situation will improve after the surgery, but surely the girls will need many lessons with a speech therapist.

Nastya Zh. studies at a specialized school in Kolomna near Moscow together with Tanya O-va and Denis M.. The girl was successfully operated for cleft hard and soft palate at the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery at the end of April 2006 and discharged before the beginning of May. This restless and active girl likes various pranks, just as her friend Tanya O-va. While Denis M. was at hospital, he helped the medical staff to cope with the girls. Both girls have poor speech development. We hope that the situation will improve after the surgery, but surely the girls will need many lessons with a speech therapist.

Serezha S-n, 2 years 3 months old, was admitted to the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery with cleft hard and soft palate at the end of April 2006. Our nurse Svetlana is taking care of him. The child needs an operation to remove the congenital defect. The boy is active and has good appetite. However, he is very nervous and needs constant attention. When his nurse leaves him just for a minute, he starts weeping, and it is very difficult to calm him down.
29.04.2006 Recently Serezha fell ill and had fever. Probably he caught some infection on his way to the hospital. Although his condition has normalized, the doctors may not perform the surgery now. Serezha was sent back to his orphanage. He will be back to our hospital for the required surgery some time later.
1.07.2006 Serezha is back to the RCCH. Our nurse Klava is taking care of him.
13.07.2006 Little Serezha S-n has a running nose again, and the surgery scheduled for today had to be postponed. The boy was transferred to an isolated ward in the Infectious Department to receive some treatment for his cold.
18.07.2006 Serezha is feeling better, and the doctors are planning to transfer him back to the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery.

Orphans at the RCCH:
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