I recently heard a story that is very touching to me. I’ve met both Mert & Katya in person and felt touched to help them out in any way that I can. Katya herself is from Russia. She came here to marry Mert. The following is the letter (less email and phone numbers) that they are using to further the cause for this sweet little girl in Russia.

It was amazing to hear their story. How that in Russia things are even worse than they were before communism “ended”. Because it hasn’t. At least not there.

I’ve included a way to collect donations in the left sidebar. It uses paypal so be assured that your donation transaction is secure. Who knows how many people I can get to see this and help. My personal goal is to raise $2,300. That will cover the air fare for Angel. They will need another ticket for her mother. But I’ll start with just that.I’m not sure how much I can raise for this. Be it $5 or $5,000 every little bit can help.

In the year 1998, in far away Russia, a tiny two year old girl was happily playing when she fell into a large glass mirror hanging on the wall. From that moment on…her life changed forever. The jagged glass significantly lacerated her face – cutting her cheek open diagonally from the left corner of her mouth about four or five inches toward her ear. Emergency medical people had to concentrate on saving her life as she was bleeding profusely. There was no time to worry about how the girl would look after the injury
healed – only time to give transfusions and to stop the bleeding. This little girl’s name is Angelina Volkova.

Angelina, or “Angel” as we call her, did survive, but with an ugly scar disfiguring the entire lower left part of her sweet little face. Her mouth was so misshapen that she had difficulty eating and keeping food and saliva in her mouth. Shortly after this horrible accident, Angel’s grandmother, Helen Volkova, a grade school friend of mine, informed Mert, my husband, and me about the tragic accident. Our first thought was, “What can we do?”

With the guidance of prayer and the help of friends, an Oshkosh plastic surgeon, Dr. David Janssen, was contacted and agreed to perform reconstructive surgery at no cost if Angel could be brought to Wisconsin. We were further blessed with the help of Vicki Schorse of the Mercy Health Foundation who facilitated free hospital care through Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh. We were truly overwhelmed by all of their compassion and profound generosity.

We immediately started to contact people for help to allow Angel and Helen to fly to America, almost 6,000 miles from Russia. Many friends and strangers donated money covering a portion of their travel expenses and incidentals for the six months they would be here. Helen and Angel were a pillar of strength and courage, and we came to love them dearly before they returned to Russia in June of 1999.

Dr. Janssen performed several surgeries and graciously indicated that he would like to continue the reconstructive process after Angel matured and her face had developed more. Over the years since they departed, Helen would send close-up photos of Angel’s face for Dr. Janssen to monitor the progress. Recently, Dr. Janssen examined the latest photos and advised us that he felt Angel was now ready for the second stage of reconstructive surgery…and, he was very willing to donate his services again. Likewise, Mercy Health Foundation was informed and they, too, quickly offered to provide all hospital services gratis.

Mert and I are now in the process of arranging for ten year old Angel and her grandmother
to return to Oshkosh, and we are excited to welcome them into our home with open arms!
Please consider helping us with over $11,000 of estimated costs (airfare, medications, personal necessities, fees associated with securing visas etc.) to ensure our success.

Please join Mert and me in our effort to reach across the miles and make the life of sweet Angel as normal as can be. Donations of any amount would be deeply appreciated. An account has been set up at Associated Bank and you may direct your gift to Angel’s Fund at Associated Bank, 444 N. Sawyer St., Oshkosh 54902.

Thank you and God bless you.

I have pulled any and all advertising from this page. I will not profit from this cause, but only collect donations for it. If you wish, you can send funds direct to the fund as stated in the address above.

I will continue to post updates as I hear them direct from Mert.

Update 5/24/07: Mert & Katya have sent off 2 letters to the Russian embassy via snail mail. They send 2 of them because the mail system is not entirely reliable.

Update 5/24/07 (13:46): In an email from Mert; “We just received word two hours ago of a $500 donation which should be delivered in a few days. Right now we have $1050 donated and over $3000 pledged so we are on our way!!!
”

Update 5/29/07: Some correspondence from Mert; “Katya spoke to Helen in Oryol, Russia, yesterday. Helen has not yet received our packet of nine pages of letter and documents needed for their visas. Memorial Day marks two weeks since the packet was sent registered to Russia. Most mail takes about two weeks to get to and from Russia. Helen and Angel are in good spirits and looking forward to arriving probably in early July some time. We are busy preparing their room in our home here in Oshkosh.
”

Update 5/29/07: Things are moving along quickly! More correspondence from Mert; “Today Helen received the registered packet of letters and documents she needs to apply for the visas! She should submit her visa application in a few days and then wait for an interview in Moscow at the U,S, Embassy. We are on the way!!! We are sending this to all people who are taking an active interest in this mission of ours and supporting it. Thank you so very much.”

Update 6/7/07:“We just got in from a week up North and called the Associated Bank to see what the status of Angel’s Fund is right now. The account is at $728 with a $500 donation coming in as soon as Helen has the visas (we counted this in the past even though it was not in hand, but a promise). Of the $728 actually in the account we know for sure where $550 came from and there is a possibility that a lady we know in Oshkosh may have sent in a $100 also. So right now we are not doing very well overall. Good news is that we have two anonymous ladies who will pick up whatever the cost is for the two roundtrip tickets!!! We thought that the newspaper coverage about two weeks ago in Appleton and Oshkosh might have helped, but apparently not.

Helen will go to Moscow to have the interview on June 13th. Pray for her success.
”

Update 6/13/07:“Good news for all people helping us with Angel’s Fund is that Helen received approval for her visas in Moscow yesterday. She should receive them in her city, Oryol, in the next several days. We are now ready to start planning their flight to Oshkosh. We hope they are here by the end of the month, but there are not too many seats available on flights that leave Moscow in the near future. Thanks for all your help in this enterprise.”

Update 6/16/07:“Good news. Helen and Angel received the visas on June 13th. We are now in the process of purchasing tickets for them to come to Oshkosh for surgery. We hope they are here in about two weeks, but planes from Moscow are just about all booked. We must do some searching.”

Update 6/17/07:“We are happy to report that Helen and Angel have their visas and tickets! They will arrive on July 6th. We plan to take them up North to our summer place for about a week to rest and adjust to the nine hour time difference. Tomorrow we will set up the first appointment with Dr. Janssen, the plastic surgeon, to look Angel over and decided what procedures will be needed. Donations are coming in very slowly after letters and newspaper coverage. We are still much below our goals”

Update 8/15/07:“Angel’s surgery was performed this morning by Dr. Janssen. He told us that it was a success in his opinion. She is now home with us and resting. There is the expected swelling, but that should go down by Friday. It has been a long day for all of us so early to bed tonight. Thanks for all your help this day was made possible!!!!!!!

Love,

Mert, Katya, Helen and Angel”

Update 9/22/07:
“Hi Vicki, We received your recent e-mail. We will all also be quite busy for the rest of September. Dr. Janssen gave his final check-up of Angel on Wednesday and said that the surgery is healing fine and there is nothing else that needs to be done by him at this time. Earlier in the summer, Dr. Angel looked over the x-rays etc. that were sent to him by Dr. Janssen and decided that NO oral surgery was needed. Both doctors advised that Angel be seen for braces in Russia to help straighten out her teeth. Dr. Janssen felt that when Angel is about 17 or 18 she could have some surgery to get rid of the scar, but that could be done in Russia; therefore, all the medical work here in Oshkosh has been completed except for two additional cavities which Dr. Hanneman will fill in the next week or so. We have already ordered their return tickets for October 14th as it does not make sense for Angel to miss school in Russia and be away from her parents when there is no more medical work needed. Let us know if you would like to see them again before they leave, and we would be happy to come to you.”

Many thanks to you and Mercy for all your help and understanding so this little girl has a better chance to live a normal life in a very difficult country for physically handicapped and scarred people.
Warmly,
Mert and Katya

Update 10/14/07:
“Hello, Helen and Angelina left for Russia at 8 AM today (Sunday). At the present time they should be over the Canadian Maritime provinces and then turning to cross the North Atlantic. They will arrive in Moscow about 1 AM our time on the 15th. It was sad for all of us the last couple of days as they packed and prepared to leave. We got promises from Helen that Angel would study English in Russia. It is amazing how much English she has learned in just three months here. She is able to carry on a basic conversation with us in English and to even joke with us in English. Right now it is sad for us to look at their empty room and think that they will never return to us as additional surgeries and braces will be done in Russia in the future.

We send a big, big thank you for helping us out in this noble work. Without your help we would never have been able to save this girl’s future. We are very pleased with how everything turned out as are Angel’s parents and Helen. God bless you. Your kindness and concern and love touched all of us very much.

Love,
Katya and Mert”

… Hopefully I can get some pictures of Angel updated soon. The fund raising on my end yielded zero results. But we did find other avenues. Guess I’ve learned that web fund raising is a bit speculative. Of course it’s always nicer if I had traffic