Dresden. The father had been healthy all his life. But suddenly every day counted. The groin pain turned out to be cancer of the spinal cord, which threatened the life of Zelimkhan Tchankoshvili. The tumor was already pressing on a nerve, paralyzing his legs.
It quickly became clear that the operation could not take place in his home country of Georgia. In Turkey too, experts could not be found quickly enough.
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Without further ado, Tchankoshvili’s daughter Irma brought her parents to Dresden to have her father operated on here at the university hospital at his own expense. The 40-year-old Irma fled to Germany with her boyfriend and two children in 2012 because of political unrest in Georgia.
Until then, she had worked for the mayor in her hometown, who came into the line of fire after a change of power. First, Irma landed in Zschopau in the Ore Mountains. There she had two more children and worked as a social worker. The family moved to Dresden two years ago in order to be able to offer their offspring better career opportunities.
Last autumn, she temporarily took in her parents and sister. Her father Zelimkhan was operated on successfully. The family borrowed the money – around 30,000 euros – from friends. They also took out a mortgage on their home in Georgia. “After the operation, my father was able to walk again,” says daughter Irma. “We thought everything would be fine now.”
By ambulance to the hospital
The first part of the rehab in Kreischa should take place immediately after the operation. After that, things should continue as planned in Georgia. However, when Zelimkhan Tchankoshvili found out about corona cases in the clinic, he canceled the contract after just a few days. For fear of infection, as his daughter says.
Shortly before the planned return flight to Georgia, the required corona test showed that the father was already positive. “Until then, he had only minor symptoms such as loss of appetite,” says daughter Irma. A few days later, however, his condition deteriorated dramatically overnight. He got a high fever. The 64-year-old was admitted to the Neustadt hospital by an emergency doctor, where he was in an artificial coma for days and had to be ventilated.
“The doctors didn’t give us much hope that he would survive,” says Irma, who at the time was also infected with the virus, as was her entire family. “That’s why I couldn’t help him. Those were the worst days of my life.”
“The situation is not good”
Her mother Nanuli also had to be treated temporarily in the hospital with breathing problems, although the course was less difficult for her and she was not ventilated.
Zelimkhan Tchankoshvili made it. After three weeks in the Neustadt hospital, he was referred to a rehab clinic in Coswig. “We are very grateful for the help there and in Neustadt,” says Irma. “Nobody talked about money there before they helped us.” The foreign health insurance that was taken out had already expired.
After the end of the rehab in Coswig, her parents flew back to Georgia in mid-December. “The situation is not good,” says Irma today. “The rehab clinics are closed due to Corona. My father is at home and can hardly move.”
At the same time, the family has a debt burden of at least 70,000 euros. These are the costs for the emergency doctor, two hospital stays and the rehab in Coswig. While they had struggled to collect the money for the cancer operation, Irma and her parents now do not know how they will ever repay this sum.
Help through donations
Through the immigration council, the family came into contact with Medinetz Dresden, an association that arranges medical care for refugees and people without papers in Dresden in an emergency. “We have already identified all possible cost bearers, but nobody is responsible for visa-free people in Germany,” says Leonie Imberger from Medinetz. “We see speaking to the public as the last chance to support the family financially.”
The first invoices have now arrived at Irma Tchankoshvili. “Of course the most important thing is that my father is alive,” she says. “But how are we supposed to free ourselves from this burden of debt? We don’t know what to do next.”
If you want to help Zelimkhan Tchankoshvili and his family, you can transfer donations to the following account under the reference “Help for Zelimkhan”: Irma Tchankoshvili, Volksbank Central Ore Mountains, IBAN: DE63 8706 9075 0212 1155 09, BIC GENODEF1MBG.
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