Bilan's Surprise Hospital Visit for Perm Girl
Dima Bilan visits a young girl in a Perm hospital during a charity initiative.
Dmitry Zhebelev, co-founder of the charity fund Dedmorozim, shared a touching memory. Thirteen years ago in Perm, Dima Bilan was «kidnapped» before a concert to bring him to the hospital where a young girl named Alisa was in the ICU.
Alisa had been in a severe car accident on her way to kindergarten. According to Zhebelev, a Gazelle van swerved into the opposite lane and collided with the car her father was driving.
«Not even the child safety seat helped,» says Zhebelev. «It was fortunate that the father driving was a rescue worker. He performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on his daughter the entire time until the ambulance arrived.»
The girl was placed in the ICU and put on a ventilator. Without it, Alisa couldn«t breathe, so she had to remain in intensive care. To be discharged, she needed her own ventilator, but neither her parents nor the Dedmorozim fund had the money for it, as it was very expensive.
«It was around the time we first met Alisa that Dima Bilan came to Perm on tour,» Zhebelev recalls. «We thought if he visited Alisa, it would draw attention to her case. We contacted the concert organizers, who agreed but insisted we provide a luxury car with a driver to chauffeur the star around town.
I only knew one person with a car like that — my friend Dimon. Actually, it was his father«s car — a black BMW X5 with special license plates, perfect for the job. Dimon is a character; when I ask him for favors, he usually says, «Why are you even asking? Of course, yes! And Bilan»s involved too?»»
The next day, the car«s owner waited for Bilan at the train station platform.
«At first, everything was going according to plan. We were at the hospital with a crowd of journalists and cameras, Alisa in a special chair breathing heavily through a tube in her throat. Half an hour passed, then an hour. Dimon called: “Listen, the organizers say we«re running late for the concert, the visit is cancelled.” And it was 20 kilometers from the hotel to our location in the Kislotnye Dachi neighborhood on the city outskirts,» Zhebelev writes. «So I said, “You»re both in the car? Have him get in, lock the doors, and drive here — he doesn«t know the city, where the concert hall is versus the hospital.”
Half an hour later, a call: «We«re here.» The doors unlock, Bilan enters the hospital, walks down the hall, stunning the doctors, goes into the child»s room with cameras rolling. «So, Alisa, were you expecting me? What are your favorite songs?» But she didn«t really know his songs or even who he was. ‘None,’ she said. But Dima didn»t miss a beat; he chatted with her kindly and won over the entire medical staff.»
Hundreds of thousands of people learned about Bilan and Alisa. The fund raised the millions needed to buy her a ventilator. Now, Zhebelev writes, Alisa lives at home. Back then, 13 years ago, she was one of the first patients discharged from the ICU with a home ventilator, showing that it was possible.
Alisa, now 19, lives at home thanks to the ventilator funded by the charity.
«Now, Alisa is supported by Dedmorozim«s Quality of Life Service, which currently cares for 300 other children like her,» Zhebelev concludes. «You don»t need to be a celebrity like Bilan to help these children avoid pain, hunger, and suffocation from severe illnesses, and to live happily with their families instead of in hospitals or institutions. If you«re unsure, just sing: “I know for sure — the impossible is possible!”»
Zhebelev encourages Perm residents to keep supporting such children. Information on how to help is available on the Dedmorozim fund«s social media and website.
By the way, we recently covered how Alisa is doing and other early beneficiaries of the Dedmorozim fund.
