An article in the Jerusalem Post tells the story of a feisty woman who despite being just a cleaning lady finds a way to get a healing treatment for Kirill, who would otherwise have "died a regretfully terrible death".

Osteopetrosis is a condition which makes pourous parts of bones turn solid and is otherwise known as Marble Bone Disease. It is common to Chuvashia where out of 4000 newborns one is born with the condition. There is no treatment for this disease in Russia, but in Israel.

Here is the link to the article:

The Human Spirit: Osteopetrosis and our little Israel

To parents adopting Chuvash children from Russia this piece of infromation may be important. A mother who adopted a Chuvash girl writes to us:

«I just uncovered information that facial features on some Chuvash children are sometimes mistaken for fetal alcohol syndrome when in fact the child is perfectly normal. It is the Asian mix on the blonde hair and blue eyes that can be deceiving. Again, your online community has helped very much in my search for answers.»

More Information is available in The Russian Adoption Handbook, page 146.