Elena is a nurse from a war-torn Izium. She withstood bombings and attempts by russian authorities to separate her family and adopt one of her sons in Moscow. Her son's journey is a prominent example of the deportation of children carried out by the russians. The tumultuous journey to safety took Elena and her family of eight children, seven of whom were adopted before the war, five long months. At first, the family stayed in Izium and Elena continued to work as a nurse. However, soon her mother passed away and one of her eight kids, Andrei, suffered severe injuries during an explosion on April 30. The injured boy was secretly evacuated to Moscow for treatment without Elena's consent. Even though Elena was given no information on his whereabouts, the woman did not fall into despair. She continued to look for her son and managed to locate him. Elena took the children with her to Moscow to pick up the son. Upon arrival, she learned that the hospital where Andrei was staying initiated his adoption procedure. With the help of Helping to Leave, Elena and her children were able to avoid joining the “big russian family” advertised by the Kremlin. Crossing the border in August, the family traveled through Belarus and Poland before settling in Switzerland, where they began rebuilding their shattered lives. The father, separated from the family for two years, joined them later in Zurich.