South Jersey family shares struggle to get 85-year-old grandmother out of Ukraine
VOORHEES, N.J. (CBS) - Wednesday marks six months since Russia invaded Ukraine. Millions of citizens have fled their homeland in a search for peace, including one grandmother who found refuge in South Jersey.
"What's happening in Ukraine is just heartbreaking. I lost my father and I can't lose my mother," Ukrainian native Olena Pikhotska said.
Earlier this year, Olena Pikhotska was desperate to get her 85-year-old mother out of Ukraine. Galina Kovalska was living in Zhytomyr, Ukraine when Russian troops invaded the country.
"Having my grandmom here is definitely a relief," Iryna Pikhotska said. "I remember Facetiming her and heard something in the background and it sounded like a bomb, and sirens started going off, and we lost connection and I started crying because I thought I lost my grandmom."
Eyewitness News spoke with the Pikhotska family at Virtua Health Voorhees. Iryna is a nurse there and Olena is a chef. To celebrate Ukraine's independence day she made traditional Ukrainian dishes for hospital staff, dishes her mother taught her how to cook.
"They can taste a little Ukrainian culture," Olena Pikhotska said.
But they say getting Galina out of Ukraine was tough.
"We wanted to get her back right away but she wanted to stay," Ukrainian native Serge Pikhotska said. "She didn't want to leave because she has a son there and a grandkid as well."
She eventually decided to leave, and her grandson Serge traveled to Europe to get her but she first had to leave her hometown of Zhytomyr, which is west of Kyiv. Her son drove her to the Slovakian border. She then boarded a bus alone to Prague. The 750-mile trip took three days.
"I pretty much saw her sitting by the window but she couldn't move because her legs were so swollen that she could barely stand up. She's 85 years old and sitting on a bus for 30 hours is extremely difficult," Serge Pikhotska said.
With all that is still happening in her homeland, she has this message for those who are still there fighting and living every day.
"For the people who are still there, she's wishing them to stay strong and really prays that this war can end soon and people can get back to ordinary regular lives," Kovalska said.
