San Antonio Couple Make It Out Of Ukraine At Last Minute After Adopting Son

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A San Antonio couple are now proud parents of a special child from an orphanage in Eastern Ukraine. But getting him home was a challenge because they were coming from the same area that Russian military forces are now invading and attempting to take over as of Thursday morning.

Adopting a child is not an easy process, much less adopting a child from another country that has rumors swirling around about a possible Russian invasion happening. San Antonio couple, Kelci and Theron Jagge began the process more than a year ago to adopt 4-year-old Ruslan who was in an Eastern Ukrainian orphanage.

This young boy was born with cerebral palsy and has spent his entire life in an orphanage until the couple saw him on Instagram and instantly fell in love with him. They have been working on paperwork and legalizing the adoption for quite a while and the time arrived when they were scheduled to go to Ukraine to bring home their new son.

The couple tells Fox 4 News that their soon-to-be son became ill with pneumonia when they went to bring him home at that was just as the tension was rising and things were beginning to escalate in Ukraine. They ran into some trouble securing his visa but were able to secure the last visa from the American embassy before it was closed down last week thanks to their attorney. The couple then encountered an issue with Ukrainian authorities at the airport. After a couple of days and some help, they got everything settled and get on one of the last remaining commercial flights out of the country.

Since arriving back home in the states last week, Ruslan is in the hospital and is being treated in an ICU. The family is thankful for everyone who helped them get their son home and out of a potential war zone. There is a GoFund Me account set up to help this family with the expenses they incurred while adopting this young soul from Ukraine.