ATLANTA — Nadiya Bobo will tell you her waking nightmare began on February 24th. Her native country, Ukraine, would see days of bombings; her family would spend days inside shelters.
“I used to live in Kharkiv, which is eastern Ukraine,” said Nadiya. “My brother’s been in a shelter for three weeks, with his whole family. My parents didn’t have the best shelters. They just had a basement under the apartment complex where it was dark and cold.”
Nadiya spent days trying to convince her mom, 72-year-old Tatiana (or Tania), and her father 76-year-old Volodymir (or Vova) to leave Ukraine and meet her in America, where she’s lived for years.
“I know it's very hard trip. And they kept telling (me) ‘no, no, no, we're scared you know, to get out of shelters’ because my city has been bombed a lot.”
Finally, Nadiya convinced her parents to leave, and the couple began a harrowing trip, leaving at 4 a.m. on March 6 with two hours of sleep and only what they could fit in their luggage and on their backs.
“They dressed up bundled as warm as they could. Their luggage could only fit medicine and whatever necessary stuff.” She said.
A kind driver found the couple and drove them to the railroad. The couple would spend 24 hours on a train, 10 hours on a bus, then a plane from Poland to Chicago.
“It took four days for them to make it from Eastern Ukraine to Chicgao,” said Nadiya, who drove Chicago to meet her parents and take them back to the suburbs of Atlanta.
But after a night’s rest, Nadiya’s father woke up in pain the next morning.
“Life changed again,” said Nadiya with her head down and tissues balled up in her hand. “We had to take him to emergency room.”
Doctors at John H. Stroger, JR Hospital of Cook County began to treat Vova for flu, pneumonia, and what they believe is heart failure. He’ll need open heart surgery, as Nayida said doctors don’t think he’s strong enough to make it to Atlanta.
After a “horrific trip” as Nadiya called it, coupled with the news of her father’s health, she said there’s a silver lining; the sheer amount of kindness shown to her and her parents.
Not only the driver who took her parents to the railroad early in the morning, but her high school friend, Olia, who went with them to make sure they got on the train.
“She (Olia) was going to flee with her parents to go to Poland. But, she had a husband and a son over the age of 18. She got Nadiya’ parents on the train, but she couldn't leave. She was faced with her own emotions of not being able to leave her husband and son. So, she walked back from the train station to their home which is over an hour in a warzone,” Nadiya’s husband, Kevin explained. “There's acts of heroism throughout the whole trip.”
The pilots flying her parents from Poland to Chicago sent texts to Nadiya every chance they could.
“This person was able to text me and say ‘they're beside me. They're fine. They just did COVID test. They're fine’. You know, it was just such a peace of mind because I didn't hear from them for four days.”
A friend in Chicago offered a place to stay until her father is well. In addition, another family friend started a fundraiser to help Nadiya afford her dad’s medical care.
“Those acts of kindness are just amazing. You want to say thank you for the people that are supporting you,” said Kevin.
Nadiya’s parents left everything behind. She feels helpless as a daughter and as someone who can only watch the violence in Ukraine.
“When you see your whole family, all your friends, cousin, everybody go through such a hard time and there’s not much you can do I mean, it's such a huge torture.”
Nadiya hopes to take her parents to her home in Metro Atlanta, settle into a new life, and find some calm.
“Hopefully, one day, the dream is, I was going to go settle and they can go visit (Ukraine.) And so just to give them a little peace. But yeah, it's pretty heartbreaking to see how people can just run away from something they love.”
Nadiya’s brother, Nima, remains in Ukraine with his wife and children. He sent his Nadiya a message reading, “Stop worrying. This war will end soon!”
Nadiya said, “I try really hard to believe in his words every day.”