This is a very heavy story! If you’ve just become a mom or are expecting a baby, refrain from reading this interview – the emotions here can be overwhelming
Theona and Ramaz’s story began like any other couple in love! Then they prayed and waited for a child for a whole 10 years! And a miracle happened! The nine months of pregnancy were the happiest in their lives. They were already picturing the joys of long-awaited parenthood! They debated what their little girl’s first word would be: “mama” or “papa”? “But our happiness didn’t last long,” Teona says. – God help! At the age of 8 months, Elene’s eyes started to roll back…Georgia’s most famous neurologist calmed us down and prescribed her a whole bag of expensive medications. But he sternly warned us: If you don’t give even one, the child will die!” But I felt in my heart that something was wrong because things were getting worse. And here we are in Turkey, where we came with our last money – ours and our kind neighbors

In the beautiful Georgian eyes of 7-year-old Giorgi lies all the pain of our land! He is very hungry! And between him and his older brother Lasha, they only have a small piece of bread for the whole day! Giorgi is very afraid that Lasha might take it all for himself! This is how they live in this wreck of a place that can’t even be called a shed. It doesn’t even have a window. Light enters the room only through the door. The gaps in the ceiling and walls are so large that it wouldn’t even be safe to keep chicks in there! Here live, if it can be called living, two perpetually hungry children—7-year-old Giorgi and his older brother, 10-year-old Lasha—along with their nearly blind and severely ill mother, Madonna, who has been disabled since childhood.

Oh God, how much suffering Merab’s mother has endured for 12 years! I can’t even put her pain into words.  But both she and her son share the same dream! And Turkish doctors have promised to ease both her suffering and Merab’s.

Merab is growing up like any other child, but soon, his mother will no longer be able to carry him outside so he can at least see and talk to other children. He cannot take a single step on his own.

Merab (12 years old): “My legs hurt so much. So, so much. The pills don’t help! And my parents don’t have money to take me to Turkey for treatment. Otherwise, I would never ask my mother to bother other people! Please, help her and help me! Please, help! I dream of standing up and at least walking quietly with my friends… Otherwise, I will spend the rest of my life watching others play from my window. I just want to live! ”

When Merab’s mother was pregnant, doctors said his brain was damaged and that he wouldn’t survive. But despite all the terrible predictions, he survived. It is truly a miracle from God!

Niko has spent his whole life working tirelessly, using every cent to support his children and care for his ailing father, who is disabled. Then, one fateful day, his world collapsed. Step by step, his ability to move faded. Breathing became a struggle. His heart, after just two steps, felt as if it would explode from his chest. How many times have strangers had to bring him back from the brink of death?

Once full of energy, he can no longer even rise from the couch on his own.  His heart is twice the size it should be.
You, dear reader, surely know what that means… A ticking time bomb inside his body. He can barely breathe. He’s suffocating. And his family—too poor to afford even an oxygen machine.

Nikoloz (38 years old): “I was a craftsman, but now I can’t do anything at all.  I need a heart transplant to survive—but that costs a fortune. I’m clinging to hope, kind-hearted people… maybe someone, somewhere, can help me at least with medications.”

When he was just a month and a half old, he had heart surgery. However, it wasn’t enough. The child’s condition is still critical, and according to doctors, he may need a second, more complex surgery, which requires further tests. The poor single mother doesn’t have the money to take them to the doctor. What I’m about to tell you, dear readers, is truly horrifying, and it is very hard for me to write these words, but you need to know this.  The twin brothers have only one teat, and when they both cry at the same time, their mother has to take turns giving it to them. God, just the thought of this is enough to drive someone mad.

Mariam’s scoliosis is pressing harder and harder on her lungs each day – sometimes completely cutting off her oxygen supply. The pain she endures is unbearable. She can’t sleep, she can’t stand up, she can’t even turn over in bed. 

Her ribcage is becoming more deformed with each passing day, and no painkillers can ease her suffering anymore. Her parents are praying on their knees for just one thing: to get her abroad for the surgery that could save her life. But where can a nearly destitute family find such a huge amount of money? If we waste any time, it will be too late. 

Lika, mother (37 years old): “I’ve been carrying my daughter in my arms for 18 years, and I will carry her for as long as I live… but I’m running out of strength.

She is 18 now – the best years of a girl’s life. Sometimes dark thoughts creep into my mind, making me wonder if God has forgotten some of us. But I immediately pray, because I know thinking that way is a terrible sin. I believe that in moments like these, God gives us all a chance – to defeat the devil through kindness and compassion!

Mariam was born with microcephaly—her skull developed abnormally, leaving no room for her brain to grow.