Attempt to Earn a Living Ends in Tragedy
It is a five-bed ward at the Institute of Neurosurgery. Patients are transferred here after complicated surgery. One bed is occupied by an 18-year-old with big blue eyes and dark curly hair. Outwardly he is no different from others his age, but only outwardly.
Valery Chaika was born in Novi Hrabli, a village in Vinnytsia oblast. There were four children in the family, two from a first and two from a second marriage. Valery did not know his father and called his mother’s second husband daddy. Actually, he is too pained to discuss his family. When he was seven, mom and dad were stripped of parental rights on grounds of alcoholism, and the boy was institutionalized. Later, the village council confiscated their home, his parents left, and he has never heard from or about them. The most pleasant childhood memories are about his grandmother. The old woman understood and supported him. Valery speaks of Granny Lisa with deep affection; she was the embodiment of good and motherly love.
After the orphanage, he was enrolled in a boarding school for orphans in Sytkovtsi. It was not all that bad there. Of course, he wanted to be with his parents, but he could not and accepted the reality. True, he would sometimes hide and cry, but this also passed as he grew. He found real friends at the boarding school (they are still friends). He tried not to think of his past, it was painful, but all the others at school had the same problem. After classes Valery would read. He was fond of books on history (you can learn a lot of interesting things). After nine years in school, he enrolled in the Olhopol Vocational Training Institute and studied for two years, majoring in construction, until the day of the tragedy.
He lived in a dorm, and his stipend was 17 hryvnias [slightly over $3.00] a month. Not much, mildly speaking, so Valery and his friends moonlighted. Fortunately, manpower was always needed in the district center and there were vegetable gardens owned by oldsters who needed help; people were building or repairing homes, and firewood had to be stocked for the winter. Chopping wood was what caused Valery’s misfortune.
Valery Lesnytsky, a small businessman, hired Valery and two of his friends to fell several trees, chop wood, and load a truck. Valery moved clumsily, a tree fell, hitting the young man in the back, throwing him several meters away. The frightened employer put him in his car and took him to the local hospital. There he was examined and immediately transferred to another hospital in Chechelnyk. The final diagnosis was the dislocation of vertebrae and internal hemorrhage. Surgery was needed.
He underwent a very complicated operation at a Kyiv neurosurgery institute, and there was a ray of hope. Institute manager Anatoly Tkach says such operations usually mean a wheelchair for the rest of the patient’s life. In this case, Valery has every chance to get back to normal, but only after a course of rehabilitation and this costs. The surgery and numerous medications were paid for by Valery Lesnytsky. The young man is undergoing treatment at the institute’s first special spinal department free of charge.
The department head, Yevhen Slynko, candidate of science in medicine, says the situation is aggravated by the patient developing other, urological malfunctions. Rehabilitation (a series of physiotherapeutic procedures and massage) is possible only after curing them. The institute invites urologists from other medical centers in the capital, but they are in no hurry to help the orphan.
Valery Chaika is regularly visited by Nina Siedina, head of the Aris Spinal Relief Volunteer Organization in the city’s Shevchenkivsky district, and her colleagues. They try to help the young man as best they can. “My principal task is helping people with spinal injuries return to an active life,”she says. “My son suffered such an injury some ten years ago. Neurosurgery experts worked a miracle, and I decided to dedicate my life to helping people in my son’s condition. Right now Valery Chaika is my top priority, and I think that his future depends on the Olhopol institute principal, because he is legally responsible for the young man. Valery had no formal contract with Lesnytsky, so legally he can claim no damages and receive a disability allowance. The lest expensive spinal rehabilitation center is in Yugoslavia ($250 per 24 hours). Elsewhere it is up to $1,500. In Ukraine, a good rehabilitation course is 500 hryvnias, but I know from my own experience that spinal patients need not only medicaments and therapeutic procedures, but also — and above all — good care and consideration, because they are a factor often playing the crucial role in the process of convalescence. We are trying to take good care of Valery; there is a visiting nurse, she cleans the room and cooks meals. We try to add to his daily diet, for the healing process requires a lot of vitamins. In response to our request, the pharmaceutical factory in Borshchahivka supplied medications free of charge and promised to pay for the pressure chamber.”
After rehabilitation treatment, Valery Chaika will return to Olhopol’s Vocational Training Institute and his subsequent life will largely depend on the management’s attitude. The Day asked Deputy Principal Anatoly Dovhopoly to comment on the situation. Being in charge of the teaching process, he has more problems than he cares to discuss. He complains that a group of orphans (among them Valery) from Sytkovtsy (the local boarding school mostly deals with mentally disturbed children) upset the college’s inner balance, bringing a discordant note with their “specific conduct” and causing complaints “from local residents.” He describes Valery as a rather phlegmatic, quiet, and well-wishing individual. “What happened to him could have happened to anybody,” says Dovhopoly. They left without permission. A local businessman asked them to help. Incidentally, he has been helping Valery ever since. After the young man returns to Olhopol he will be qualified Plasterer Third Class and presented with a diploma. Since he is physically unfit for the job, he will have to find an easier one. Yes, a difficult situation, but Valery Lesnytsky has assured everybody that he will help him with a job. No, we won’t leave Chaika alone with his misfortune. He has an aunt living in Vinnytsia oblast, and we will contact her in the immediate future.”
Valery is also often visited by the Rev. Anatoly Zatovsky of St. Macarius’ Church with his assistants. Father Anatoly addressed the parishioners, asking to help the ailing young man and sent a letter to the Vinnytsia Eparchy.
Valery reads the Holy Bible brought by the Rev. Anatoly and believes that all will be well, that he will walk and work, that he will have a family. At the moment, he needs money for rehabilitation treatment.
All wishing to help Valery return to normal life are welcome to transfer money to the following account:
23704666 R/S 26009270043001, MFO 321574, Lukianivka TBVB, Kyiv Directorate, Bank Ukraina, C/O Valery Chaika, Aris Rehabilitation Center, Association of Ukrainian Organizations of the Physically Handicapped
E-mail: aris@dax.ru; web: http:\\aris.dax.ru
