02 Sep A Survivor’s Fate

Although the dwindling news reports indicate life has moved on for Ukrainians, the personal correspondence we get shows the need is only increasing.

Dr. Catherine Hodge traveled to Ukraine with an In His Image crisis response team in May. She shared a powerful story with us:

Near the end of a long clinic day, I had the privilege of giving care to a beautiful Ukrainian woman in her late seventies. I checked her blood pressure and gently let her know that it was still very high, despite her good job in taking her medications. The dam burst, and her sobs spilled out for the next twenty minutes as she shared the terrors she had endured in the last two months.

Surviving the initial attacks near Kyiv, which decimated her apartment with her inside, she fled to Odessa. The war followed her there and she then escaped further west, jumping city to city. She recounted going to buy a magazine outside one of her refugee facilities, only to watch a missile kill the people up ahead of her in the street.

Dr. Catherine Hodge attending to a patient in Ukraine, May 2022.

Now she was without any family members and reported that she could only sleep for two hours each night before waking, just to stare at the ceiling for the remaining hours, reliving each attack over and over.

Her body shook as the tears fell. My heart ached. “You shouldn’t be here. At your age? This is supposed to be your time of rest, the quiet twilight of your life.”

I listened; I cried; we prayed; we hugged. I adjusted and refilled medications, and we held hands for a long time. There was nothing more to be done.

Although we are not in Ukraine like Dr. Hodge, we can all help. In fact, through donors’ generosity, we have been able to bring hope and healing to an estimated 678,035 people impacted by the Ukraine war.

However, we urgently need to replenish the fund we use to help people like this dear elderly woman.

Almost every day, we receive orders and requests for assistance on behalf of Ukraine. Our Emergency Disaster Relief fund is limited, and we will soon not be able to provide assistance to the degree we were at the beginning of the conflict.

Would you consider giving a gift to bring hope and healing to these war-battered people?

$100 given to the Emergency Disaster Relief fund can provide medicines & supplies for 460 patients!

You can give today by texting the word “Ukraine” to 91999 or by going here.