Nadia Pishko, 92, returns to homeland of Ukraine after decades in Minnesota: "She's very happy"
Nadia Pishko, 92, was born in Ukraine and fled her home country as child during World War II, eventually building a life in Minneapolis.
Despite the current war in Ukraine, she asked to return to her home country, and that dream came true last week.
"She's a testimony to the strength and resiliency of the Ukrainian people," said Chaplain Howard Dotson.
Nadia Pishko's childhood was a harrowing one. She grew up in Lviv, Ukraine, in the 1930s, when the country experienced mass starvation. And during World War II, her family fled to escape the Germans and Russians. But her love for Ukraine never wavered.
"Since 2013 she's been telling her sons, 'I want to go home. I want to die in Ukraine,'" Dotson said.
Even before she suffered a stroke in February, Nadia Pishko had made up her mind to live out her final years back in her home country. And thanks to support, donations and lots of planning, she said goodbye to Minnesota last month, with her eyes set on Ukraine.
The journey back didn't come without challenges. Getting Nadia from Minneapolis to Ukraine meant going through four different airports and four different trains.
"Every airport from Minneapolis, Iceland, Copenhagen, Warsaw, we had EMS help transfer her," Dotson said.
Dotson escorted her back to Ukraine, coordinating paramedics to help get her from her wheelchair into planes and trains. The entire trip took more than a week.
"Crossing the border was one of the poignant moments. 'You're back in Ukraine,'" he said.
Her new home is a care facility in west central Ukraine. And despite the war, her family knows it's where she wants to be.
"She's very happy," said son Julian Pishko. "And she loves the people there. She's getting along really well."
Her son says it's a homecoming more than 80 years in the making.
"She's a strong woman," said Julian Pishko. "It shows the strength of the Ukrainian people because, you know, they're fighting hard in Ukraine and they're strong people."
Nadia Pishko is doing physical therapy and visiting with family and friends she hasn't seen in years. She's now also able to visit her husband Peter's gravesite.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help her pay for medical and living expenses.