10.08.2005 Two girls from Beslan, Lena Vazagova and Alya Fadeeva, came to the hospital for a check-up. In the autumn of 2004, both girls were patients of the Abdominal Department, where they were admitted with serious bullet and shrapnel wounds. Now the doctors say that both girls are in fine condition. Lena Vazagova will spend some time at a health center near Moscow, and her friend Alya will receive planned treatment at the Department of Microvascular and Plastic Surgery.

2.02.2005 Recently two visitors from Beslan appeared at our hospital church: Marina Kadzaeva with Gleb Totonov, a boy of four. A short time ago, they returned from Italy together with other Osetian families whose children had been treated at the RCCH this autumn.
Marina Kadzaeva told us:
"We, my little boy and I, visited Italy for a month and a half for rehabilitation. Gleb was very seriously wounded during the terrorist act, he has got awful injuries, and in Italy he received everything that was necessary for him: both treatment and psychological rehabilitation. I calmed down a bit, and we were somehow distracted from the negative emotions, from the darkness that is filling Beslan now. When we returned to Beslan, this darkness again enveloped us as soon as we left the train, and we again recalled how wonderful, how good everything was in Italy. Our best impression was the kindness, the smiles and compassion of all the people who met us there, who were always with us. They arranged sightseeing journeys for us. As far as I remember, Italy stretches for 1300 km from North to South, and we travelled along 1000 km. Rome was very impressing; we looked through virtually all parts of the city. Also very impressing were Venice and Verona. Then there was that amazing encounter with Albano, the singer: he specially took a flight to see the Beslan children for a hour and a half and the give a concert. It was so wonderful to speak to those people. Many thanks to Ennio Bordato, who organized this visit and our stay in Italy. We could always contact him on any problem and always received a positive answer. One of the aims of this visit was to show my child to Italian doctors, and Ennio organized everything. And, of course, I am grateful to all the people who supported us so much here, in Moscow, during the treatment at the hospital, and who helped in organizing this wonderful journey to Italy."

21.12.2004 Last week, the group of Beslan children who are now in Italy for rest and rehabilitation made a journey over the country, which ended in Rome. In Saturday, they were greeted by the Major of the Italian capital. During the Sunday Mass, the Osetian children were present at St. Peter's Square. After the end of the service, Pope John Paul II greeted the children personally with words of support and then wished them merry Christmas in Russian.

Visiting the fire brigade in Trento

Photo by Davide Pivetti, L'ADIGE, December 11, 2004.

Meeting children from the Villa Lagarina School (Trento)


     
Photo by Fulvio FIORINI and Piero CAVAGNA

Information about the visit of the Beslan children to Italy has presently appeared in our mass media as well. For some publications (in Russian), see http://www.rambler.ru/db/news/msg.html?mid=5402997

30.11.2004 In the beginning of last week, a group of patients from Beslan who had been treated at the RCCH came to Italy for rest and rehabilitation. The children are accompanied by their parents and relatives.

They received personal invitations from Lorenzo Dellai, President of the Autonomous Province of Trento, and the Council of this Italian province will pay for all the expenditures. The children will be back in the beginning of the next year, on January 10, 2005.

Aiutateci a salvare i bambini, an Italian charity association headed by Ennio Bordato, organized this journey. This association has been cooperating with our charity foundation for several years, providing great help in purchasing medicines and equipment for hematological departments of the RCCH.
During the days of the tragic events in the Beslan school, Ennio Bordato was in Moscow with a group of TV reporters from the Trento province, making a film about our cooperation at the RCCH. When patients injured in the terrorist act began arriving at the hospital, Ennio informed the president of the province, and the Council of the Trento province decided to invite the children for rehabilitation after their treatment at the RCCH is over.

It was the first time that we had to prepare documents for sending as many as 39 children abroad at once; earlier, there were only separate occasions. We are whole-heartedly grateful to the Italian Consulate in Moscow, which greatly simplified and expedited the preparation of all the documents in this extraordinary situation, considering the problems related to sending papers from Osetia to Moscow and the people's state.

The tickets to Milan were bought for the flight that was to depart from the Sheremetevo-2 airport on Monday, November 22, at 7 a.m. However, a difficulty emerged at the last moment: heavy snowfall began in Moscow, and the airports were closed. A plane with some of the children, who had left Osetia on Saturday, landed in St.Petersburg, and it was sheer miracle that the children were still in time for the Milan flight. The other group of children could leave for Moscow only on the eve of Monday and came to the Domodedovo airport only on 8 a.m.
We are grateful to managers of the Sheremetevo-2 airport, in particular to Valeri Vladimirovich Serykh and Oleg Fedorovich Zhukov, who provided an airplane for this second group of children so that they could leave the next day. And we are especially grateful to the managing bodies of the Aeroflot Company, including its Transit Department, and personally to administrator Yulia Zhukova. For that day, they provided, free-of-charge, comfortable rooms for the Beslan families at the hotel of the Sheremetevo-2 airport, as well as free-of-charge (and very tasty!) food at the hotel restaurant, a bus, and luggage transportation.

At the Milan airport, Ennio Bordato met both groups. A special bus took the children to Trento. They were given lodgement in a special guesthouse at the territory of the monastery, surrounded by a beautiful park and situated near the center of the city, so that the children could easily go to the swimming pool or gyms.
After the children arrived, doctors of the city hospital examined them and prescribed the necessary treatment. Then psychologists consulted them. Most children still feel fear and anxiety. They recall the September events again and again. One of the senior girls has a dream almost every night: she sees her friends who sat at her side on the floor of the school gym and were killed in front of her eyes...

16.11.2004 Today only one patient injured in Beslan is still under treatment at the RCCH. We are in constant contact with the families of the discharged children. For example, preparation of documents necessary to send the children for rest and rehabilitation will soon be completed (the first group will leave at the beginning of the next week).

25.10.2004 Children injured in the Beslan terrorist act are recovering well. Eight patients from Beslan are still remaining at the RCCH, and two of them will be discharged from hospital in the beginning of the next week. They are recovering not only physically but psychologically as well. We do not lose contact with children who have left the hospital, and we hope to participate in their further rehabilitation.

6.10.2004 The first four children among those injured during the terrorist act in Beslan have been discharged from the RCCH. They are Anna Tsalaeva, b. 1994; Valeria Tsgoeva, b. 2000; Kristina Bikuzarova, b. 1994; and Zarina Bugulova, b. 1989.
When saying good-bye to us, the children and their parents told us that they were leaving the hospital with a feeling of immense gratitude for the warmth, care, and real help that they had found here. Zarina Bugulova (the girl who immediately started drawing and mastering the computer with her left hand, because her right hand could not move after the wound) presented this painting to us, so that we would remember her and her native land.
39 children from Osetia are still staying at the hospital.

17.09.2004 The RCCH Help Group, the Charity Commission of Moscow Patriarchate headed by Rev. Arkadi Shatov, and the Moscow Ossetian diaspora are continuing their coordinated mission aimed at helping the RCCH patients who were injured during the terrorist act in Beslan.

On September 15, there was a large charity action of the Help Group, supported by the hospital administration. It was coordinated by Armen Popov, a long-time friend of our hospital. The funds were raised by the staff of the Proma-Interactive internet providing company, the Slavyanski Dvor real estate agency, and the Russian representative office of Parson's Shoes company. The sports presents were provided by the Sportmaster trading network.
It took several days to prepare for this event. As soon as the children from Ossetia arrived at the RCCH, members of the Help Group visited each child, asked his or her relatives about their daily needs, and collected information about the necessary footwear and clothing: not only the size but also the desired look. But first of all, when getting acquainted with the children and parents, we (as psychologists advised) asked them about the children's former dreams, hobbies, and wishes.
In fact, when we directly asked children what they would want to receive as a present, many of them answered, "Nothing." After the tragedy, the children were in a state of deep apathy. Time had as if stopped for them there, in the gym of the Beslan school. It seemed that they had lost all ties to their former selves and expected no future.
To recall one's dream, to think about it once more means to wind the clock again.
The action started in the morning, when Dmitri Alenichev, a famous Russian football player, appeared in the RCCH passage, to the delight of all nearby boys. He was going to visit Alan Kusaev, a 14-year-old Ossetian boy, who is crazy about football. The boy is presently at the Department of Traumatology; he has got a penetrating wound of the thorax and a severe head trauma. And still, Alan was simply enraptured when he saw Alenichev. The boy became unrecognizable: during his first days in Moscow, Alan's psychological condition was nearly the worst, he tried to avoid any contact.
The football player brought a present for Alan: a real football uniform and a ball with a few kind words written on it. They immediately posed for a photograph together. "Give it to your friends afterwards," said Dmitry, tenderly putting his arm on the bandaged boy's shoulder.
We want to mention that Dmitri Alenichev responded to our plea to visit the wounded boy as soon as he heard it.
Then the event began. It took place in all departments that hosted patients from Ossetia. At first, the children were greeted by Karlsson from Astrid Lindgren's fairy tale - to be exact, from a performance by the Theater of Satire (actor Alexander Simonets). He taught all children how to misbehave, play tricks, and eat jam right from a jar. And afterwards each child received the very present that he or she had dreamed about. For some of them, the most desired present was a large doll in the form of a newborn baby, which needs care just as a real newborn child; for some, it was a Barbie doll with a little house; for some, a radio-controlled car model, or a CD player, or roller skates. None of the children had asked for presents or expected them. The children or their relatives had just mentioned their dreams and wishes when speaking to us.
And now each child indeed held his or her long-wished present in hands.
Three older children were given computers. One of them was Murad Kalmanov, already mentioned on this page. Nobody could stay indifferent to the life story of this courageous orphan boy. One of our benefactors, who wished to stay anonymous, not only bought a notebook computer for Murad but also offered further help to him, including financing of his education.
Georgi Farniev, who is ten, dreams of extreme sports. Now a real multispeed mountainbike is standing in his ward. Georgi's leg was broken by shrapnel, and now it is covered with plaster from foot to hip. It must surely heal well, the doctors will take care of this, and the bike will encourage the boy with the enticing lustre of its new enamel.
Alya Fadeeva is a 12-year-old girl with shrapnel wounds of shins. She had dreamed of walking in elegant white high boots. When she opened a box and saw boots of soft snow-white leather, with fashionable small heels, she could not believe her eyes and only asked, "Is this for me? Is this true?"
That day, everybody who saw these children felt that they were really becoming their former selves, becoming just children. It was the first day after the disaster when they felt real joy.
Afterwards the children were provided with the necessary clothes and footwear (as we have already told, each family was individually given exactly what was needed). Members of the Charity Commission of Moscow Patriarchate also brought TV sets and video tape recorders for all the wards where they were still lacking. Now all children from Beslan can use them.
Then a conjurer came and gave a performance for all children of each department.
And presents (maybe small ones) were given to all children without exception, so that nobody would be offended.
It is very frightening that the parents of our "ordinary" patients sometimes feel something like envy toward children who are victims of the Beslan tragedy. This feeling is cruel and absurd (when you say, "Just imagine your children there!", they become sober again), but at the same time it can seem justified: "These children receive so much attention, but are our children any worse?" Of course, nobody is better or worse, and hospital life does not bring much joy to anybody. Therefore, everybody must have small holidays and festivities. The only difference is that such festivities are not just a distraction for these children from Ossetia but a necessary component of their treatment and rehabilitation.
On September 16, participants of the Fabric of Stars TV show came to visit the children.
"Professor"Luka Lukich also came to the hospital again. The children sat at the computer and had drawing lessons with our artists. Volodya Shishkarev came with his synthesizer and sang songs.
The treatment goes on as it should. There are operations every day: the doctors remove bullets, shrapnel fragments, and metallic "filling" of explosive devices. The parents leave them as a kind of keepsakes. Sometimes a handful of iron is taken out of a child.
Zamira Mamsurova is feeling better; she had been transferred from the resuscitation ward to another department.

14.09.2004 Our teachers of drawing and the head of the computer class again taught the Beslan children today. Many of the kids were indeed interested in drawing. Before our eyes, a girl whose right arm had been wounded managed to draw using her left hand. Now she wants to cope with a computer, also with her left hand.
The highlight of today's program was a "professor's round," when a huge doll doctor called Luka Lukich visited the departments of the hospital. This side-splitting and kind professor is a well-proven "antidepressant medicine." Nobody stayed indifferent, and there were smiles on the children's faces long after he had left.
A girl and a boy came to the hospital church in the afternoon. The boy stood there for a long time, looking at the icons that hung high above, right under the ceiling. This church occupies the former conference hall, and some ceiling tiles have already fallen out, leaving dark holes. The boy noticed them and asked, "Was somebody shooting here, too?.."
Kristina, the ten-year-old girl, asked us to give her a candle and lit it in memory of her friends. They are dead.
Kristina's mother told us that yesterday they watched an animated film about an ogre. When the ogre wanted to eat children, the girl cried, "Do they eat children here, too?" She could not look at the screen.
Murad Kalmanov, a 16-year-old boy, is now at the Department of Abdominal Surgery. When he saw a man trying to shoot at other children, he protected two little kids with his body, and then, already wounded, managed (together with the school sports instructor) to take a gun from a terrorist. The boy's aunt is taking care of him at the hospital: his mother died last spring; his father, several years ago. They say that they don't need help and have got all they need. Murad only asked us to bring him books about special forces, their training and service. Joining the special forces is his dream.
Several children are to be operated on Tuesday. Pieces of shrapnel and foreign bodies must be removed.
And another important piece of information.
During all these days, a lot of visitors want to see the children from Beslan. This is very tiresome for the children and their relatives. The number of visits must be limited. Therefore, since Monday, the head physician has forbidden all visits without preliminary agreement.

13.09.2004 Three more children from Beslan appeared at the RCCH on September 11. All of them have bullet wounds. They were directed to the Departments of Traumatology and Thoracic Surgery.
Help to our children is coming from everywhere. Ossetians living in Moscow have organized daily supply of food, fresh fruit, and juices to the hospital - not only for "their" children but for all patients of the department. The Charity Commission of Moscow Patriarchate immediately responded to our plea: TV sets and video tape recorders have appeared in almost all wards where Beslan children are staying. Soon the children will also be given warm clothes: indeed, their treatment will last long, and cold autumn is approaching.
Now we are busy providing footwear to the children: most have got neither warm boots for going out nor even home slippers. They got here on stretchers, but now many of them could walk... if there was anything to put on their feet.
And, of course, presents and toys. When a child suddenly shares his or her touching and almost impossible dream with you - a Barbie doll, a radio-controlled toy car, a CD player, a gamepad - you understand that now it is not the usual childish "I want!" This is the beginning of a child's return to normal life, to his or her former self. (And you, being able to fulfil these dreams so easily, feel as if you were a bit of a magician.)
Our computer specialists regularly consult the children, but the demand is much more than they can do. As the children's condition improves, we will need the help of people who can visit the children with their own notebook computers. As soon as such help becomes necessary, we will place the necessary announcement on this web site.
On Saturday, many parents came to the hospital church and participated in the Divine Liturgy. Then the priest visited all children in their departments, and more than half of them took communion. Eight children who had survived after the Beslan tragedy were baptized that day.
The psychological condition of most children has improved. Many have become notably more lively when video tape recorders appeared in wards: those good old cartoons! Please bring video tapes: animated and children films, family movies, comedies. Audio tapes are also necessary: children's songs, fairy tales, rhymes, stories for the little ones; favorite music for the older children.
We were glad to see the children's and parents' general attitude. They are very friendly and open-hearted. They are not bitter, not overcome by their grief. The parents willingly communicate with other people, sincerely thank for any help and compassion, for not leaving them alone.
We can often hear their embarrassed words, "Oh, please, we don't need anything, just thank you for being here!"
One of the mothers said these astonishing words, "Right after the events, I had only one thought: to leave this country and go somewhere. But now I feel: no, this is our country!"

The list of children who were wounded during the terrorist act in Beslan and are now under treatment at the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital.

1. Department of Traumatology.

Alan Kusaev, born December 25, 1989. Ds.: Mine blast trauma, penetrating shrapnel injury of the thorax on the left. Hemothorax on the left. Shrapnel injury of the head.
Zelim Mamsurov, born March 4, 1993. Ds.: Mine blast trauma. Bullet wounds in the left shoulder and suprapubic region, in the iliac wing.
Aslan Dzugaev, born February 3, 1990. Ds.: Mine blast trauma. Penetrating bullet wound in the right half of the thorax. Hemothorax on the right. 2nd degree shock.
Elina Khamitsaeva, born February 11, 1994. Ds.: Mine blast trauma. Penetrating shrapnel injury of the thorax on the left. Hemothorax. Bullet wound of the right shoulder.
Alan Kostuev, born September 10, 1995. Ds.: Mine blast trauma. Penetrating bullet wound of the thorax on the right. Foreign body in the right lung.
David Bikoshvili, born February 26, 1995. Ds.: Mine blast trauma. Bullet wound of the suprabrachial region with penetration to the pleural cavity. Hemothorax on the right.
Alan Kusov, born June 2, 1993. Ds.: Mine blast trauma. Penetrating shrapnel injury of the thorax on the right.
Anna Tsalueva, 10 y.o.
Valeria Tsgoeva, 4 y.o.
Albert Dashiev, 12 y.o.

2. Department of Thoracic Surgery.

Robert Balikoev, born October 29, 1992. Ds.: Mine blast trauma, penetrating shrapnel injury of the thorax on the right. Bullet wound of the shoulder. Hemothorax on the right.
Zarina Bugulova, born December 2, 1989. Ds.: Mine blast trauma, penetrating shrapnel injury of the thorax on the right. Shrapnel wound of the right shoulder. Hemothorax. Acoustic trauma.
Fidar Kusaev, born March 14, 2000. Ds.: Mine blast trauma, penetrating shrapnel injury on the right. Shrapnel wound of the left shoulder.
Kristina Bekuzarova, born March 19, 1994. Ds.: Mine blast trauma, complicated penetrating wound of the thorax.
Kazbek Dudiev, born January 30, 1994. Ds.: Mine blast trauma, shrapnel wound of the left renal region. Penetrating shrapnel injury of the thorax.

3. Department of Abdominal Surgery.

Elena Vazagova, born December 21, 1994. Ds: Penetrating bullet wound of the abdomen with lesion of small intestine; craniocerebral trauma.
Alevtina Fadeeva, born July 13, 1992. Ds.: Multiple shrapnel and bullet wounds of soft tissues in the lumbar part of the back, both shanks, and shoulder joint.
Diana Esieva, born October 6, 1998. Ds.: Lacerated shrapnel wound of the axillary region.
Milana Esieva, born September 20, 1997. Ds.: Penetrating shrapnel wound of the abdomen.
Murad Kalmanov, 16 y.o. Ds.: Penetrating shrapnel wound of the abdomen.

4. Department of Microsurgery.

Georgi Farniev, born May 4, 1994. Ds.: Shrapnel wounds of the extremities, concussion syndrome.
Elbrus Farniev, born October 17, 1997. Ds.: Blunt bullet wound of the right shoulder, neuritis of the medial and facial nerves, body abrasions.
Kambolat Baev, born June 11, 1995. Ds.: Mine blast trauma, multiple mine shrapnel wounds of the extremities, anterior thoracic wall and abdominal wall, and the back.

5. Intensive Care Unit.

Victoria Gusevkova, born April 2, 1988. Ds.: Shrapnel wounds of the skull.
Zamira Mamsurova, born February 15, 1991. Ds.: Mine blast trauma, soft tissue injury.

Total: 27 patients.

We did not place this complete list of Ossetian patients on our site earlier because of numerous corrections: children were redirected to other departments. Besides, there was no common opinion as to whether we should publish this list at all. However, when we asked the children themselves and their relatives, "Will you mind if we publish your names and photographs?", they answered, "No, we don't mind. We want people to know what we have been through."

10.09.2004 Dear friends,
Yesterday, on September 9, twenty-two children from North Ossetia came to the RCCH. They were wounded during the terrorist act in Beslan.
These children are of various ages, from very small ones to adolescents.
Mostly they have got shrapnel wounds. Three of them are now at the intensive care unit; they have already been operated in Moscow. All need prolonged treatment because of their severe injuries.
The children are conscious but extremely depressed and slow to react, fallen into stupor.
We will inform you about these children's needs as promptly as possible.
At present the doctors of the RCCH tell us that all necessary medicines and equipment for the Beslan patients are available at the hospital. Various organizations have also transferred money to the children's parents; it can be used to buy food etc.
Today we visited each child, talked with the little patients and their parents. And it became evident: to achieve their fast recovery and psychological rehabilitation, we must first of all distract the children from their memories of this tragedy. Experienced psychotherapists have come to the hospital. According to their estimates, rehabilitation of these children and their relatives will require a long time and professional help. It is still impossible to say if our psychologists have enough time and strength for this. More people may be required. If you are ready to offer your professional help, please get in contact with Lina Saltykova, the head of the RCCH Help Group, by phone number (095)130-64-42.
Today the children rejoiced at our small gifts. Everybody received an audio player, a small sketch-book, and a box of soft-tip markers. Sketch-books, markers, and pencils will be necessary during the forthcoming weeks and months as well. We will be very grateful to you if you bring them to the hospital church (it is located in the administrative building of the hospital; the entrance to the building faces Leninski prospekt). The church is open from 3 to 6 p.m. on weekdays, but actually one or another member of the Help Group is always present there from 12 a.m. You just knock at the door, and somebody will go out.
On Saturdays, the church is open the whole day. You can also hand the drawing materials to the bookstall of the Kosma and Damian Church (Stoleshnikov pereulok, 2) in the central part of Moscow; maybe it will be easier for you to get there.
Of course, the little patients would be very glad to see video films in their wards. Each ward usually hosts two children, brothers or sisters, with their relatives. So we needs only 10 sets: a 14-inch TV set and a video player. Please phone us if you can help.
Some encouraging news: the head of the computer class of the Help Group visited the older boys today and cautiously asked them if they wanted to use the computer. And the boys were notably revived! It seems that another bridge for their return to life has appeared.