A hero Edinburgh doctor is helping a Ukrainian family with their sick child make the "blood curdling" journey out of the war zone.
Rita, 32, got in touch with the family online when she first heard about the conflict in Ukraine.
Tragically the Ukrainian woman's husband was killed in the conflict when it first began, and her three-year-old was in poor health.
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The family of two made the gruelling journey to the UK through Germany after their house was destroyed, but the tot became poorly again and was rushed to hospital in Cologne for surgery.
Following complications he was in an ICU for weeks and has just been transferred to a general paediatric ward where he is more relaxed.
The three-year-old will have one more operation in Germany before making the rest of the journey with his mum to Edinburgh, so the family can start a new life in Leith.
Rita, a local doctor, will host the family when they arrive in Edinburgh, hopefully in the next couple of weeks if the operation goes well.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live she said: "I met them through a Facebook group created after ‘Homes for Ukraine’ went live, at the time prospective hosts and Ukrainians were posting there for matches.
"I came across a post from Nadiia, she wasn’t actually looking for a sponsor but replied to someone’s comment, mentioning she and Vladimir were hiding in a basement, so I messaged her and we started talking. This was around mid March I’d say."
She continued: "We started the visa application while they were still in Ukraine, and then once they were in Poland, they attended a visa assessment centre in Warsaw since they didn’t have international passports.
"I thought it would take a really long time so I emailed my MP and got a reply from one of her caseworkers the following morning, I was really impressed.
"She contacted the Home Office on our behalf and explained the urgency of the situation given Vladimir was poorly, and everything was much quicker from there.
"She also checked up on us a few times afterward to make sure everything was going okay. Vladimir needed to have surgery in Poland so that delayed things a little.
"They were advised by the doctor not to travel by plane so soon after the surgery so they got on a coach from Warsaw to London, but Vladimir became poorly again while crossing Germany, and had to be admitted to hospital ICU in Cologne.
"He was there for a couple of weeks and was stepped down to a general paediatric ward a few days ago."
She continued: "Vladimir was so happy to go into the general ward as they weren’t allowed mobiles in the ICU, in the general ward there’s a tv with cartoons and he can watch the videos of my puppies I send to his mum.
"He was distraught last night, just sick of being in hospital I think, pulled out all the tubes so there was quite a bit of blood, but it’s all settled now.
"Once he’s discharged we should be able to get transport for the next day, so I’m hoping for end of next week or beginning of the following week, depending on how the procedure goes.
"We’ve found someone who’s agreed to arrange car transport for them from Cologne to Edinburgh once he’s discharged, so they will both be staying with me here.
Rita who is a doctor explained that little Vladimir has been unwell with a kidney infection she said: "He has an ectopic ureter, this was only diagnosed in Poland after he started having problems peeing and had a fever.
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"I recall Nadiia saying he had an ultrasound showing quite significant hydronephrosis, so the surgery he had there was meant to have helped with that, but then the doctors in Germany said apparently the first procedure just made things worse.
"They had to operate on him again to flush out a number of clots that were in the urinary tract, his kidney function was really going off which is why he spent so long in ICU.
"This was covered by some travel insurance Nadiia managed to get. Vladimir is still unable to pee without a catheter and they were told he needs a neobladder reconstruction to address this.
"That procedure is really expensive and not covered by their travel insurance, she’s found a charitable organisation which has agreed to cover most of the cost, so we’re fundraising to absorb the rest.
"They’ve scheduled it for Monday as things currently stand so fingers crossed.
You can find out more and donate to the fundraising page here.
