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HELPING EGOR –
MARCH 2007 |
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On 28th February, Egor,
once again, came to Wales for treatment.
Luda Tagay, one of our Minsk
co-ordinators, was responsible for
bringing him as mum, Margarita had to
look after his brothers, Stefan and
Tomas and his sister, Dominika. Egor has
known Luda since we first met him in
August 2003 and was quite happy to be
with her. |
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Photograph courtesy of The South Wales
Echo
 Egor at school with (back
row) Val Cousins, Head teacher
Mari Phillips and Dr Jo
Longtsaffe.
Front row: Henry, Maddie, Alfie
and Millie Payne, and Luda Tagay . |
The 1st March
is, of course, St David’s Day
and a day of national pride for
Wales.
Egor was invited to Ysgol y
Berllan Deg, the school of Dr
Jo’s four children, for their
annual
Eisteddfod. Head teacher Mari
Phillips ensured the school gave
Egor a huge Welsh welcome.
Egor was very
shy when he first walked into
the school hall. Luda explained
that during concerts in his
orphanage he had always been
hidden away. To be greeted by so
many smiling faces was a shock
for him. |
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touching moments for me was when after
the Eisteddfod Henry, Jo’s eldest,
brought some of his school chums over to
meet Egor and said “ Everybody, this is
my friend Egor.” Egor has never had a
friend before! |
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The next day we
went back to see Dr Andrew
Morris, Dermatologist at the
Independent General Practise.
Andrew was keen to see how Egor
was progressing on the dosage of
medicine he had prescribed and
take a blood test.
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Egor helps Dr Andrew check his
notes |
Dr Jo got the 'nasty' job of
taking blood |
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The result was that
although Andrew was delighted with
Egor’s progress, he felt he needed to
increase the medication by half again. |
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ITV Wales joined
us there ready to do an
afternoon of filming as a follow
up to the item they gave ‘top
story’ to on his first visit. We
had a few surprises lined up for
Egor and his friends.
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‘The Limo
People’ provided a stretch limo
for the children to take them to
Lakeside Farm Park to meet Harry
Hayes, ‘The Rhondda Cowboy’.
When Harry rode into the park in
his full regalia there were
shrieks of delight from all
(Including the adults!). |
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The whole
afternoon was so exciting;
travelling in the limo, enjoying
the soft drinks, ‘goody bags’
and balloons; meeting Cowboy
Harry and his horse Jasper,
being allowed to ride Jasper and
hold Harry’s guns. Harry even
presented Egor with his own
Stetson and neckerchief. It was
a wonderful adventure for all of
the children. |
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On Saturday we were
booked in for an appointment with Ian
Chalmers the Optician. |
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Rob Walters,
Ophthalmic specialist, was away
but was eager to check if the
new glasses was helping with
Egor’s squint (this will
determine whether or not an
operation is necessary). Egor
was duly put through his paces
and an adjustment to the
alignment of the lens was
required. Ian has, very
generously, supplied Egor with
another pair of glasses and will
adjust the others next time. |
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We feel that it is very
important that Egor doesn’t become too
acclimatised to ‘western life’. He is
going through a very difficult period in
his life and needs a lot of help and
support to adjust. Egor needs stability.
He needs to settle into his new way of
life in Belarus, which is so different
to life here. With that in mind, Luda
and Egor caught the plane back to Minsk
on Sunday. |
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Our thanks goes to:
Dr Joanna Longstaffe and her wonderful
family
Dr Andrew Morris – The Independent
General Practise
Ian Chalmers – Ian Chalmers Independent
Opticians
The Limo People
Harry Hayes - the Rhondda Cowboy
Mari Phillips and the staff and pupils
of Ysgol y Berllan Deg
Helen Ward – Effective Communications
ITV Wales
The South Wales Echo
Raj Aggarwal - Central Pharmacies
And, of course, our
Luda |
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