The family of Lyubov Leontiivna

Thanks to your donations, assistance was provided to the family of Lyubov Leontiivna. Her daughter is bedridden due to a car accident, her husband suffered a stroke, and she herself is fighting a severe form of oncology.
Together, we collected UAH 33,000 for them. These funds have already bought the most necessary medicines and hygiene products. We will deliver some more drugs next week.

Now Lyubov Leonidovna is in the hospital, but the doctors promise to let her go home for the holidays. An Easter basket will also be waiting for her there. The family called us "fairies".

Volodymyr Hryhorovych

68-year-old Volodymyr Hryhorovych has a visual disability of the 1st group - he can hardly see anything. "I lost sight in one eye back in 2000. I worked as a construction worker. I was injured at work. But they did it in such a cunning way that the industrial injury was not registered, then they wrote in the documents that it was not at work. It was as if they helped right away , and they gave money for doctors, but then there was no firm, no help, no vision," Volodymyr Hryhorovych says.

After treatment, the man got a job as a janitor. And four years ago, he lost his sight in the other eye as well.

Nina Semenivna

82-year-old Nina Semenivna has heart problems - all 4 of her valves are malfunctioning.
"I was sent to Amosov for surgery. But I couldn't go. It is very expensive. Where can I get such money?" - says the pensioner.
All her life she worked in the food industry, but she "earned" such a pension that she barely makes ends meet. She no longer has any close relatives left.
"My son died when he was 27 years old. And my husband has been gone for 6 years. Since then I live alone. The drugs are needed so that the valves open and the heart can pump blood. Without medicine, the valves will simply close and the heart will stop," says the woman.

Volodymyr Anatoliyovych

Medicines and products were handed over to 61-year-old Volodymyr Anatoliyovych. The man had already suffered 3 strokes.
"After the 3rd stroke, my left side became paralyzed. I have been living like this for 6 years," says the man.
Volodymyr Anatoliyovych tries to do without outside help, and it is not easy for him.
"I try to go to the store by myself. If the weather is good of course. I walk with a cane, then I sit there on the way, and somehow I get there. And if it's icy, I don't go out anywhere. God forbid I slip, there is no one to pick me up, and I will not get up myself," says the pensioner.

Alevtina Oleksandrivna

Alevtina Oleksandrivna is a former pilot. She dreamed of flying into space, but her health did not allow it.
"I was kicked out of the space program because I developed a fibroma of the vocal cords. I was very upset, but at least I flew. I have 120 hours of aviation flight time. I really liked to fly. When I went up into the sky, those were the best moments of my life," says Alevtina Oleksandrivna.
Now the woman is left alone. The husband died, and the son went to defend Ukraine in 2015. Since then he has been on the front line.
"He just happens to be at home suddenly. When it passes somewhere nearby, it will run. And yes, I hardly see him," says the woman. She herself would like to help Ukraine in the fight against aggression, and her health is no longer there.

Vasyl Vasyliovych

They handed over medicine and a magnifying glass for 87-year-old Vasyl Vasyliovych. Grandfather lives alone and his meager pension is barely enough to pay for an apartment and the most necessary things. "I pay more than two thousand hryvnias for an apartment. There are pennies left, which is very difficult to live on," says Vasyl Vasyliovych. When ordering food, he often asks to take one fish, or one apple or onion. He has to save on everything, says a social worker who helps his grandfather with shopping. Vasyl Vasyliovych himself has not gone outside for more than a year, because, firstly, it is very difficult for him to walk, and secondly, he cannot see very well. When our volunteers brought him groceries last time, he really asked for a magnifying glass. "My old one broke, and without it I can't even read the instructions on the medicine," says the grandfather.

Lyubov Leontiivna

66-year-old Lyubov Leontiivna is torn between the fight against oncology and taking care of her bedridden daughter and husband. At the age of 11, her daughter was hit by a bread truck."She had a hip fracture, clavicle, skull injury. The impact ruptured the eardrums and damaged the optic nerves. Hearing was restored. We fought for vision for a long time and it was not possible to save it - Anya can't see anything. Due to trauma, internal hematomas are formed in the brain. 7 years ago she practically stopped walking, and 5 years ago she started having epileptic seizures," says Lyubov Leontiivna. Last year, two new misfortunes struck their family. The man had several microstrokes and was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. And in addition to this, oncology returned to Lyubov Leontiivna. She was operated on for the first time in 2014 - she had ovarian cancer. After 8 years of sleep, the disease woke up with new aggressiveness.

Liudmyla Kostyantynivna Kochubiy

Liudmyla Kostyantynivna Kochubiy was born in January 3, 1936. Her son died because of terrible desease — brain cancer. After his death, the woman went through stroke and heart attack. She had been several days unconscious, alone in her flat, until neighbors called an ambulance and police. Not long ago, the woman has had a complex eye surgery that cost her 21,000 hryvnias. She couldn't pay and borrowed money at friends. So, she has debts and tries to pay from her miserable pension.
The foundation “Hold My Hand” helps them with food, household chores, and raising money for her medical treatment.

Tonya Kuzmivna Gudko

Tonya Kuzmivna Gudko was born in 1932. When our volunteers visited this cheerful pensioner, they experienced many positive emotions since she was smiling all the time. Antonina Kuzmivna has been working at the plant “Artem” with asbestos proven to be harmful to her health. There, a lung disease has developed. Antonina Kuzmivna has no children, and her husband died from stroke 12 years ago. Now, this enthusiastic and misguidedly optimistic woman has to spend old age alone.
The foundation “Hold My Hand” helps her with food and daily routines.

Larysa Mykolaivna Bondar

Larysa Mykolaivna Bondar was born in 1935. Her elder sister is 92, and Larysa Mykolaivna promised to help her despite cancer. Larysa Mykolaivna has never has kids. She has been working at the plant “Artem” all her life, earning only a miserable pension.

Natalia Volodymirivna Shushkovska

Natalia Volodymirivna Shushkovska was born in 1950. This strong woman suffered two strokes. However, she found the strength to get back on her feet and move around the flat on her own. The woman hasn't gone out for several years already because she lives on the 6th floor without an elevator. Besides, she has kidney problems. Natalia Volodymirivna worked at the blood transfusion station and became a honorary blood donor of Kyiv. Her kindness saved many lives, and the time came to help her.
The foundation “Hold My Hand” helps her with food and housekeeping.

Scandinavian walking

All for the health of our wards! Starting today, pensioners will have more opportunities to do sports. The charity fund "Hold my hand" bought new sports poles for the section of Nordic walking, which operates at the Territorial Center of Social Services of the Shevchenkiv district of Kyiv.
"This is not the first time we have helped develop sports centers for pensioners under the social service. Previously, we already bought sticks for the opening of the Nordic walking section in the Desnyan district of Kyiv. The more high-quality equipment there will be in the sports sections, the more pensioners will be able to take up walking," says Yulia Stashkiv, director of the charity fund "Hold my hand"

The section of the Scandinavian walk is open

Prevention is better treatment. The charity foundation "Hold my hand" together with the social service opened a Nordic walking section for the elderly. We bought 6 pairs of specialized walking sticks and helped organize the grand opening. Now pensioners will be able to practice this unique sport every week. The section will work on the basis of the Territorial Center of Social Services of the Desnyan District of Kyiv.
It has been proven that in the absence of contraindications, such walking significantly improves the health of the elderly. It improves heart function, normalizes blood pressure, increases body flexibility and mobility. With regular physical activity, the work of the joints improves, the muscles are strengthened. Also, walking improves movement coordination and gait stability, which reduces the risk of injury.

Assistance to the de-occupied villages of Kharkiv Oblast

Another aid was handed over to the de-occupied villages of Kharkiv Oblast. There, without exaggeration, people live on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. Although the occupiers were defeated, they continue to mercilessly shell the border villages.
Most of the people were forced to leave their homes and go, some to relatives, some to rent housing. But many residents continue to survive in frontline villages without electricity, water and communication. These are mostly elderly people, who find it most difficult to leave their homes.

The families were in the village Peremoga even during the toughest battles

Someone had nowhere to go, and someone decided to stay in their home at their own peril and risk. This video is about how civilians have to survive in front-line settlements.
In the village of Peremoga, in the Kharkiv Region, there were practically no surviving houses left, and these families were here even during the heaviest battles.

Assistance to residents of the village of Peremoha in Kharkiv Oblast

Houses gutted, destinies mutilated, lives cut short... The war took too much from these people. She walked through the village of Peremoga, in the bordering Kharkiv Oblast, like an ice rink, destroying everything in her path.

The charity foundation "Hold my hand" brought aid to the affected residents of the settlement as soon as volunteers were allowed to enter it.
See in the video how the once well-kept and tidy village looks now and what those who had to survive the occupation and hostilities say.

We will deliver aid to the village of Peremoga in the Kharkiv region

For a long time, the front line passed through the village. Most of the people who lived here agreed to evacuate, and those who remained tell how livestock died under the shelling, and green grass was on fire from phosphorus. Due to the security situation, entry to the settlement was prohibited until now for all but local residents.
"Our charitable foundation previously provided assistance to residents of neighboring villages, and we knew how difficult the situation was in Peremoza. As soon as we were informed that volunteers were allowed to enter the village, we immediately went there to deliver food and medicine," says Yuliya Stashkiv, director of the charity fund "Hold my hand"

How villages in Kharkiv Region are recovering

Deadly shells, shock and a foreign army - these people came under occupation in the first days of the war. In most of them, the houses were destroyed or very seriously damaged. The charity fund "Hold my hand" took food aid to the victims of hostilities to residents of the de-occupied villages of Kharkiv region.
People tell how the occupiers searched for Atoshniks, how they took away phones, stole cars, furniture and toilets. They baked pancakes from flour reserves, took refuge in cellars from regular shelling, and some simply prayed, because due to age and poor health, they could not even go down to the shelter.