When Dr. Valentina Gumenyuk‘s 79-year-old mother, Mariia, was diagnosed with a potentially paralyzing brain tumor, the University of Nebraska Medical Center researcher desperately wanted to get her mom out of Ukraine and with her in the U.S. so she could be by her side while she underwent treatment. But the process of getting her mother permission to come to America proved to be difficult.
Then Gumenyuk got a rare opportunity to share her mom's story on Omaha's KETV in February, leading to an outpouring of support that helped make her journey to the U.S. possible. The story caught the attention of someone at the Immigrant Legal Center in Omaha, who helped Gumenyuk navigate the paperwork for the Uniting for Ukraine temporary asylum program.
While that process was underway, she headed to Ukraine to be there when her mother underwent surgery. It was then that they received the good news that Mariia’s asylum request had been granted. Now the mother and daughter are together in Nebraska, where Mariia is receiving excellent care thanks to assistance from Nebraska Medicine. And Gumenyuk is grateful for all the people who helped to make her mother’s asylum and treatment in the U.S. possible. "It's amazing,” she says, “Because without help, nothing can happen like this."
Source: KETV