An amazing story!!
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Two infants born to
surrogates in Ukraine couldn’t get to their intended parents in Israel until
United Hatzalah volunteers stepped in.
By Aharon Ben
Harush, Israel21c
On Friday night in
Chisinau, just before Shabbat, I received a phone call from my father-in-law
Eli Beer, the president and founder of United Hatzalah of Israel. He told me that there is a
two-day-old baby whose mother is in Israel and that the baby needs to be
rescued from Kyiv.
“You must drop
everything and assist in this matter,” he told me.
This was to be the
beginning of a 36-hour expedition without sleep.
I got the details that I
needed to mount the rescue mission. Our team, which is based in Moldova’s
capital city, is providing humanitarian aid and emergency medical care to
Ukrainian refugees coming across the border.
However, as we know from
our experiences in Israel, as well as in other international relief missions,
when something needs to be done quickly and lives are at stake, we step in
wherever we can.
In this case, a baby
girl had been born to a surrogate, with the biological mother residing in
Israel. After the baby was born, the surrogate had abandoned the baby in the
hospital and left the country due to the war.
The nurse in charge
informed us that if we didn’t take the baby by 9 am on Saturday morning, she
would be placed in an orphanage. Staying in the hospital was simply unsafe.
Instead of enjoying the
Shabbat meal with other members of the United Hatzalah mission who were
returning from their efforts at the borders, I began phone calls to no less
than 29 local ambulance companies.
After a few hours, I
succeeded in locating a company that was willing (for a large sum of money) to
proceed to a meeting point 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Kyiv, but they refused
to enter Kyiv due to the heavy shelling taking place there.
Thus began a secondary
rescue operation to evacuate the baby from Kyiv to the meeting place.
Arduous
Journey for a Newborn
Through various
connections, I succeeded in finding a doctor who was willing to help and took
the baby, under armed escort, to the meeting place.
During this time, the
arranged meeting place with the ambulance company had been changed due to
bombing attacks in the region. After eight hours, the baby reached the ambulance
I had hired.
For an additional nine
nerve-racking, tense, hours involving tons of phone calls and coordinating, the
baby safely reached the border with Moldova.
Together with Israel’s
Foreign Ministry representative Itzik Kagar, who committed to helping us here,
and with the assistance of former Israeli ambassador to Ukraine Joel Lion, we
obtained all the necessary documents to have the baby transferred to our care
in Moldova.
The border police, who
by now have gotten to know us pretty well, were also informed and coordinated
together with us on the operation.
The mission was
accomplished — the baby crossed the border. United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Vicky
Tiferet, a mother of four, and I, received the baby.
However, the problems
were not yet over. We drove toward the Romanian border since the Moldovan
airport adjacent to the Ukrainian border was closed to air traffic.
Vicky and I were
interrogated at the border, which was to be expected – after all, they wanted
to know what we were doing with a three-day-old baby who had no connection to
us.
Thankfully, after 10
additional hours, we arrived at the Iasi airport in Romania on Monday morning,
where we waited for the mother and father who were arriving on a special flight
from Israel, arranged by United Hatzalah.
The flight was coming
into Romania together with additional medical teams and supplies for our
mission in Moldova.
One
Emotional Meeting Followed by Another
The reunion was tearful
for all involved. A complicated rescue mission that involved four countries,
multiple teams, and two full days of effort on my part, and the part of many
others, came to fruition.
But while the challenges
for this family were over, another family’s challenges were just beginning.
Onboard the flight from
Israel was a second set of parents coming to rescue their surrogate child.
Their child was also born to a surrogate in Kyiv. With my assistance, they were
hoping to retrieve their child as well.
I had to go back to
work.
I cannot provide the
details of the entire operation since they cannot yet be published, but after
28 hours the second baby, an infant girl, was also, thank God, on her way to
Israel.
The tears of joy and
delight of both sets of parents moved and deeply affected us all.
I have organized many
different operations in my life, but this is definitely one that I will never
forget as long as I live.
Saving two newborn
infants, stuck in the middle of a war, is something that will stay with me
forever.
I cannot explain the
feeling I have when I look back on the events from this past weekend, but the
work put in, and the humanity shown by all involved, was simply mind-boggling.
I’m delighted that two
sets of parents have been united with their babies. I’m proud and excited to be
part of the United Hatzalah rescue mission helping the refugees from Ukraine
however old, or young, they are.
