Ukrainian child needing urgent bone marrow transplant arrives in Cork

Yana, Serhiy and Leonid Shapoval, 5, with Cork South-West TD Michael Collins on their arrival at Dublin Airport from Ukraine.

A massive effort is under way to help a Ukrainian child with leukaemia who was forced to flee war-torn Kyiv with his family just days before he was due to undergo a life-saving bone marrow transplant.

Leonid Shapoval, aged five, and his traumatised family were being comforted by relatives in Ballydehob in West Cork as arrangements were being made to ensure he gets urgent medical treatment.

Leonid and his parents, Yana and Serhiy, and Yana's mother, Svitlana Surzhyk, arrived at Dublin Airport on Monday night, with all their belongings in just one suitcase, after a harrowing journey across Europe.

They fled the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Saturday following advice from medics who were due to perform a bone marrow transplant on Leonid in hospital there next week.

But as the Russian invasion began, and amid fears the city would face bombardment, doctors gave the family Leonid's medical file and advised them to leave Ukraine.

They contacted Yana’s aunt, Victoria Waldren, who has lived in Ballydehob for about 15-years, who in turn contacted her local TD, independent Cork South-West TD Michael Collins, for help.

As Leonid and his family drove to the Polish border, Mr Collins liaised with officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs to ensure the family could get to Ireland quickly.

They got a police escort through 20km traffic jams to cross the Polish border, and from there, they travelled on to Warsaw from where they caught a flight to Zurich, and from there, they eventually were cleared to board a flight to Dublin.

Emotional scenes

There were emotional scenes in Dublin airport as they were greeted by family and friends in the arrivals hall.

Weeping openly, an exhausted Yana told Patricia Messenger, on C103’s Cork Today on Tuesday that she and her family were devastated to have to leave their country.

But she said they had no other option. “We need special medical care for Leonid,” she said.

Ms Waldren also said they were shocked to learn that the hospital were Leonid was due to undergo his operation next week, has since been bombed.

The family had various medical appointments on Tuesday but work must be done to translate Leonid's extensive medical file before doctors here can determine the best course of treatment for him.

Mr Collins praised Department of Foreign Affairs officials for their work on the family's case over the weekend, particularly their intervention when the family was in Zurich and was at risk of being split up.

And he warned that the Government was not ready for what he said could be a massive influx of refugees from Ukraine.

“Ireland will have to take many people but ensuring they have a humane accommodation system will be a huge issue,” he said.

"I’m aware of Ukrainian families living in Bandon who are already preparing to take up to 10 family members into their homes."

Meanwhile, Tatiana Vagramenko, 43, a Ukrainian senior post-doctoral researcher in Ukrainian history and anthropology, who started her first day with the Study of Religions department at University College Cork (UCC), and whose parents and sister live in Crimea which is now annexed by Russia, said she starts every day by calling them to check if they’re still alive.

"The war has torn my family apart,” she said during a solidarity gathering at UCC’s Quad on Tuesday.

“They are preparing to flee the country. My father has a Russian passport so cannot leave. 

“There are so many mixed Russian and Ukrainian families. They currently live right beside the front line of the war. I start every day calling my all my family to see if they are alive, what their night was like, did they go to a bomb shelter. I never expected this could happen today."