When 14-year-old Ksenia Lukina was born with a congenital heart defect, the doctors told her mother, Irina, that she would be better off abandoning her daughter. Ignoring this advice, Irina kept her child.
At the age of 3, Ksenia underwent her first heart operation. But as she grew, her health deteriorated and at 12, she underwent a second operation.
The family atmosphere only aggravated the situation. After her father, who was with the St. Petersburg OMON police commandos, came back from a tour of duty in Chechnya, he took to the bottle and neglected the family. After her divorce, Irina had to work several jobs as a janitor to support sickly Ksenia, who has to be homeschooled, and her brother.
When doctors said Ksenia needed a third operation, at a cost of 175,000 rubles ($6,300) her mother thought she would have to sell their 23-square-meter room in a communal apartment in the city until their doctor mentioned the Children's Hearts foundation.
"You are our last hope," Lukina wrote in a letter to the charity in February.
Children's Hearts, a foundation set up in 2002 by four Russians to help children born with heart defects, receives pleas for help from all over Russia, including remote villages and Chechnya.
Heart defects are among the top killers of babies under one year old in Russia, where 276,000 children are currently diagnosed with congenital heart defects. About 30,000 children are in need of immediate assistance, according to the foundation.
Only 30 percent of these 30,000 have their operations funded by the state, while in another 5 percent the families pay themselves, the foundation said. Parents of the other 65 percent of children have to seek alternative means to afford a heart operation, which can typically cost between $5,000 and $10,000.
At first -- skeptical of the philanthropic opportunities in Russia -- the organizers set up the foundation in Britain. "We were certain that philanthropy in Russia wasn't possible," said Mikhail Bermant, the foundation's president.
Bermant, a director of Bosti Group, which sells medical equipment, had been looking for a person to get the foundation going in Britain when he came across Amy Cruse. Cruse, who was then working for the United Nations environment committee, was one of the first British children to undergo a successful heart operation in 1977 at the age of 3.
"I got involved with the fund as I knew that if I'd been born in Russia, I would not be alive today. My parents would not have been able to afford to pay for surgery," Cruse wrote in an e-mail from London. "I was shocked that children in Russia were still dying from conditions that would be treated straight away [for free in Britain] on the National Health Service."
After the foundation was registered as a British charity in 2000, Cruse worked as its sole employee as a fundraiser. The money raised paid for Russian children to have operations and bought medical equipment. The donations also helped bring Russian surgeons for training to London's world-famous Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, and to Southampton University Hospital.
In 2002, Cruse left the foundation to take up a job with the British Red Cross. Her departure led the foundation's organizers to transfer its core activities to Russia. With only two staffers and a few volunteers, the foundation is now focused on becoming a fully-fledged Russian charity.
Katya Bermant, the foundation's director and Mikhail Bermant's daughter, said donations came from businesses -- and also from individuals, with some pensioners sending the foundation 100 rubles ($3.60) each month.
According to Bermant, the charity has so far raised 5 million rubles ($180,000) in Russia, which has helped finance operations for 47 children across the country. To lend the foundation credibility, Bermant secured the support of prominent Russians, including figure skater Irina Rodnina and leading heart surgeon Leo Bokeria, who joined the charity as trustees.
"Good deeds will help re-establish the reputation of philanthropy," Rodnina said at a Children's Hearts fundraiser last month in Moscow. The event was the foundation's second, after a charity concert given by U.S. guitarist Omar Torres last summer.
Guests at the fundraiser said Russians have taken time to embrace the true meaning of philanthropy, as it was compromised in the 1990s, when businesses established charity foundations for the sole purpose of money laundering and tax evasion.
Singer Alexei Lebedinsky said at the fundraiser that he had not believed in Russian charity efforts before. "Our ossified and befuddled consciousness means we can't escape the conclusion that we are being cheated," he said.
After the government last year called on businesses to give more back to the community, companies started actively promoting their philanthropic activities. Some companies, however, donate selectively, organizers said.
Katya Bermant's husband, Alexander Sorin -- who volunteers for the charity -- said that companies would rather give money to a child who will be looked after by his or her parents after surgery, than an orphan or a child with Down's Syndrome with an unclear chance of recovery. Businesses are keen on getting positive results for their money, he said.
Even Russian Aluminum, which Katya Bermant described at the fundraiser as their "favorite sponsor," has at the same time been choosing its recipients carefully, she said by telephone last week. "They're quite cautious about getting involved with difficult cases."
The February event raised a total of $3,650 through an auction of paintings donated by artist Katya Belkina, a lottery and direct donations. The money raised will help cover Lukina's surgery, Katya Bermant said.
After the operation Ksenia, who spends most of her time at home with her pets -- three rats, a guinea pig, two turtles and a cat -- will be able to go back to a traditional school, her mother said. "The girls supported us very much," she said, referring to the foundation's employees. "I don't have words to express my gratitude."
To learn more about Children's Hearts, visit its web sites at www.childrenshearts.ru or www.childrenshearts.org.uk.
At the age of 3, Ksenia underwent her first heart operation. But as she grew, her health deteriorated and at 12, she underwent a second operation.
The family atmosphere only aggravated the situation. After her father, who was with the St. Petersburg OMON police commandos, came back from a tour of duty in Chechnya, he took to the bottle and neglected the family. After her divorce, Irina had to work several jobs as a janitor to support sickly Ksenia, who has to be homeschooled, and her brother.
When doctors said Ksenia needed a third operation, at a cost of 175,000 rubles ($6,300) her mother thought she would have to sell their 23-square-meter room in a communal apartment in the city until their doctor mentioned the Children's Hearts foundation.
"You are our last hope," Lukina wrote in a letter to the charity in February.
Children's Hearts, a foundation set up in 2002 by four Russians to help children born with heart defects, receives pleas for help from all over Russia, including remote villages and Chechnya.
Heart defects are among the top killers of babies under one year old in Russia, where 276,000 children are currently diagnosed with congenital heart defects. About 30,000 children are in need of immediate assistance, according to the foundation.
Only 30 percent of these 30,000 have their operations funded by the state, while in another 5 percent the families pay themselves, the foundation said. Parents of the other 65 percent of children have to seek alternative means to afford a heart operation, which can typically cost between $5,000 and $10,000.
At first -- skeptical of the philanthropic opportunities in Russia -- the organizers set up the foundation in Britain. "We were certain that philanthropy in Russia wasn't possible," said Mikhail Bermant, the foundation's president.
Bermant, a director of Bosti Group, which sells medical equipment, had been looking for a person to get the foundation going in Britain when he came across Amy Cruse. Cruse, who was then working for the United Nations environment committee, was one of the first British children to undergo a successful heart operation in 1977 at the age of 3.
"I got involved with the fund as I knew that if I'd been born in Russia, I would not be alive today. My parents would not have been able to afford to pay for surgery," Cruse wrote in an e-mail from London. "I was shocked that children in Russia were still dying from conditions that would be treated straight away [for free in Britain] on the National Health Service."
After the foundation was registered as a British charity in 2000, Cruse worked as its sole employee as a fundraiser. The money raised paid for Russian children to have operations and bought medical equipment. The donations also helped bring Russian surgeons for training to London's world-famous Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, and to Southampton University Hospital.
In 2002, Cruse left the foundation to take up a job with the British Red Cross. Her departure led the foundation's organizers to transfer its core activities to Russia. With only two staffers and a few volunteers, the foundation is now focused on becoming a fully-fledged Russian charity.
Katya Bermant, the foundation's director and Mikhail Bermant's daughter, said donations came from businesses -- and also from individuals, with some pensioners sending the foundation 100 rubles ($3.60) each month.
According to Bermant, the charity has so far raised 5 million rubles ($180,000) in Russia, which has helped finance operations for 47 children across the country. To lend the foundation credibility, Bermant secured the support of prominent Russians, including figure skater Irina Rodnina and leading heart surgeon Leo Bokeria, who joined the charity as trustees.
"Good deeds will help re-establish the reputation of philanthropy," Rodnina said at a Children's Hearts fundraiser last month in Moscow. The event was the foundation's second, after a charity concert given by U.S. guitarist Omar Torres last summer.
Guests at the fundraiser said Russians have taken time to embrace the true meaning of philanthropy, as it was compromised in the 1990s, when businesses established charity foundations for the sole purpose of money laundering and tax evasion.
Singer Alexei Lebedinsky said at the fundraiser that he had not believed in Russian charity efforts before. "Our ossified and befuddled consciousness means we can't escape the conclusion that we are being cheated," he said.
After the government last year called on businesses to give more back to the community, companies started actively promoting their philanthropic activities. Some companies, however, donate selectively, organizers said.
Katya Bermant's husband, Alexander Sorin -- who volunteers for the charity -- said that companies would rather give money to a child who will be looked after by his or her parents after surgery, than an orphan or a child with Down's Syndrome with an unclear chance of recovery. Businesses are keen on getting positive results for their money, he said.
Even Russian Aluminum, which Katya Bermant described at the fundraiser as their "favorite sponsor," has at the same time been choosing its recipients carefully, she said by telephone last week. "They're quite cautious about getting involved with difficult cases."
The February event raised a total of $3,650 through an auction of paintings donated by artist Katya Belkina, a lottery and direct donations. The money raised will help cover Lukina's surgery, Katya Bermant said.
After the operation Ksenia, who spends most of her time at home with her pets -- three rats, a guinea pig, two turtles and a cat -- will be able to go back to a traditional school, her mother said. "The girls supported us very much," she said, referring to the foundation's employees. "I don't have words to express my gratitude."
To learn more about Children's Hearts, visit its web sites at www.childrenshearts.ru or www.childrenshearts.org.uk.