Tag: nato

Style note: As always, the author intentionally misspells the pronoun i by writing it in lowercase

In the 41st week of 2025 AD (early October) i went to Europe. More specifically, i went on a dual humanitarian mission focused on helping the people of Ukraine.

The first and most important part was being an escort for a great-grandmother to honor her fallen US Marine son who died near the Russo-Ukrainian War frontlines. The second part was to help people with hemophilia, von Willebrand Disease (vWD), and other bleeding disorders.

How’d I Get Even Get Into Ukraine? And Why?

The grandmother i was escorting is a coworker of mine, Sochi. Her son, USMC Ian Tortorici, was killed on 27th June, 2023. He was on a short leave and having dinner at RIA Pizza along with some other 80 people when an Iskander SRMB (short-range ballistic missile) hit the parlor, killing 13 people, including award winning author Victoria Amelina and Ian. An Iskander is the spiritual successor to the infamous Scud missile. A weapon of that magnitude targeting civilians is an all too common characteristic of Putin’s literal use of overkill.

In the coming sad days, Sochi heard from Ian’s Ukrainian fiancé, Nadiya, that there were several memorials for her son in Ukraine. Sochi told me that she would like to visit them one day. That got the cogs in my brain moving. I understand all too well that the Russo-Ukrainian War is the “Freedom Front” being fought on the world’s stage. I wanted to help. And, if i’m completely honest, i wanted some adventure as well. I’m, one, a male and, two, without children. In my eyes, that makes my life expendable, so going to an active warzone was an easier choice for me than for others.

But how would i get there?

Well, whenever i travel, i try to do two things. One, check out the local sports’ scene and, two, try and see how things are with the local bleeding disorders community.

People think i’m ambitious. I guess. More than not, i’m just stubborn. Like, really stubborn. If i want something, i nearly always get it. It’s not because i’m good at everything, that’s for sure, but i get good at several disciplines and i nearly always get the diverse things i want. How? By asking and trying and eventually failing. But then i repeat the process. Do it enough, you’ll get what you want. Even if it is after the 100th time.

So i sent a mass email to anyone and everyone i could find online in Ukraine that worked in hemophilia. Doctors. Treatment Centers. Bloggers. You name it. I reached out to 23 people. I got 22 denials. Fortunately, i received one response. And that’s all you need. Sergiy Shemet, a board member for the Ukrainian Association for Haemophilia and Haemostasis ‘Factor D’, UAHARD, reached out to me.

I immediately addressed the elephant in the room. I told Sergiy and Nina (another volunteer with hemophilia) that i understood the skepticism about me reaching out. Russians are the worldwide experts at digital espionage. Every person that reaches out to help those that are fighting for our western freedom are more like than not spies for the enemy, pretending to be someone who they are not. I knew that the burden of proof was on me to show that i was not a bad faith actor. I shared my limited personal social media accounts and shared pictures. We talked and they began to trust me, although with heavy doubt, as they rightly should. The turning point in our relationship was when Sochi got involved. There was no denying that her son had been killed. His fiancé in Ukraine could vouch for him and for herself. Once the hemophilia group i had been talking to started talking to Nadiya, everything started to fall into place. Once the Ukrainians started talking to other Ukrainians, they started to understand that i was legit.

As for the why, it’s pretty simple. Nearly 100 years ago a madman invaded Eastern Europe with his eyes on ruling the world, with his ultimate goal of destroying America. Today, a madman has begun his invasion of Europe through the east with the same goals. Less than a year ago, all students in Russia started to begin their classes with the phrase, “Death to the West and death to America.” That is the reality to this very day. We all watch movies like Saving Private Ryan and tell ourselves that we would have supported the side of the Allies. Every reason and justification that we had to fight in the European Front of the Second World War is the same reason today to fight in today’s European Front of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Since i have eyes and more than one brain cell, supporting the good guys and wanting the bad guys to lose is an easy choice. For me, at least.

Save More Than One Life

This brings me to the amazing work of many partners, but i would like to highlight one in particular.

But before that, a brief note on our main mission, honoring Ian and other fallen innocents.

In the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, there is a monument called The Maiden. Outside The Maiden is an organic memorial. Literally thousands upon thousands of flags and photographs of the fallen. We visited Ian’s makeshift memorial there. We also visited his church where he prayed and worshiped since he converted to the Ukrainian Church and there’s a picture of him along with the other hundreds of dead parishioners. Finally, we visited his memorial at the WW2 Museum. Not only did we honor Ian, we also attended the American funeral of Kyzyl Bowden, a 22-year-old American Army infantryman. I can write a book about the sights and experiences of bravery and courage we witnessed. Needless to say, it was an honor to honor and respect those who are still fighting and dying in World War Two. That war may have ended for Americans, but not for others.

The second reason i was there was to help the bleeding disorders community. We weren’t sure how to help. Visit hospitals? Visit associations? Finally, we settled on meeting with Sergiy and Nina and they introducing me to my fellow blood brothers and sisters. But that wasn’t all. Sochi and i brought along a ton of factor to donate to the people of Ukraine. This was done through the amazing work from the equally amazing women at Save One Life.

Save One Life provided so much factor that, my carryon was nothing but factor and my toothbrush. Seriously. The factor was then distributed to three different families in three different regions of Ukraine. One such factor delivery was sent to a young man who was recovering from surgery. Had it not been for the generous donation from Save One Life, that young man may not have been here with us today. I have no words.

To clarify one thing, Save One Life has official partners around the world. Right now, Ukraine is not one of them. It’s not that Save One Life does not want to help (obviously) but it’s more of a paperwork, logistical thing. The folks in Ukraine understood this as well. There would be no (for now) supporting of individual children, no continued visits and factor support in the upcoming future. And that’s fine. In fact, that just proves how amazing Save One Life is.

Save One Life could have easily said, “Ukraine is not an official partner at this time. So we cannot help.” Totally acceptable and understandable. Instead, Save One Life did help and tremendously so. The pessimist might think, what good is one shipment of factor? The honest person would see the truth. Save One Life literally helped change and better the financial situation of a nation under invasion for at least three months if not more. Think about that. Save One Life’s donation helped ease the massive burden of helping those with life threatening illnesses. Their donation helped defray medical costs across an entire nation’s medical system. Their donation helped Ukrainian medical staff focus more attention to the wounded.

In short, Save One Life has saved several lives and helped ease the burden of those under attack in Ukraine. They didn’t just help, they helped change the world into a better place. I can only wish to have that type of impact one day. It was tectonic.

I close by saying thank-you to Save One Life, but that feels terribly inadequate. There just isn’t enough words in the English language to truly explain the Earth shaking good work that Save One Life does for the bleeding disorders community. These little black marks are just a poor man’s attempt to shed a light of greatness that the great women at Save One Life have done and continue to do.

Thank-you is not enough, but trust me, the people of Europe under siege do appreciate the colossal affect that Save One Life does day in and day out.