MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis couple from Ukraine are using their translation skills to help children with cancer in the war-torn country get to safety.
Yuri and Dr. Lana Yanishevski are from Ukraine. As Russia’s devastating war in Ukraine began, these two Memphians watched in disbelief and heartbreak as their homeland is being decimated.
“When this war started, we were shocked. We were in denial,” Yuri Yanishevski said. “The feeling I had initially was anger and worried about friends and relatives still in Ukraine.”
Lana is a pediatrician and Yuri is an engineer who works for ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. They knew help would be crucial.
They said Russia’s war is showing no mercy, not even for sick children battling cancer.
“They (children) are having two wars to deal with, and I feel like I wish I could do more. I wish I could be there helping them, treating them, but at least I’m doing something,” Lana said.
“That is particularly sad when you think about those kids having to hide in the moldy basements of hospitals to hide from Russian bombs and rockets,” Yuri said.
Through St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s global reach, Yuri and Lana are doing something. Using their laptops, they are interpreting the medical records of Ukrainians cancer patients.
“It was very important for those patients to get their medical records translated from Ukrainian to either English or Polish language so they could be admitted to the hospital,” Yuri said.
“Anything we can do to help St. Jude global and anything we can help Ukraine, we’re doing it,” Lana said.
They believe they’re making a difference.
“St. Jude and ALSAC are actually doing something about that. They’re using their global reach to save lives and that’s what St. Jude is all about. It’s big lifesaving enterprise located in Memphis,” Yuri said. “This is saving my soul and what St. Jude Research Hospital and ALSAC are doing for those kids.”
Those words need no impetration as these two Memphians use their skills, along with St. Jude, to help the people of Ukraine.
“I’m asking you and yours to please pray for Ukraine and pray for those children,” Yuri said.
Yuri and Lana said they want patients to know they are being cared for by one of the greatest hospitals and getting the best care in the world, all because of St. Jude.
“If there’s one thing I know about our employees, it’s their selfless desire to make a difference in the world, no matter where the need is,” said Richard C. Shadyac Jr., President and CEO of ALSAC. “Yuri saw a need and from 5,000 miles away, he found a way to help people in his homeland by connecting them to lifesaving care and embracing them as they stepped off the plane at Memphis International Airport. People like Yuri show the impact every person has on the global work of ALSAC and St. Jude as we reach across differences in language, culture and national background to level the playing field for the 400,000 kids across the world with cancer each year.”
