In 1997, when one-year-old Pavel from the city of Novosibirsk needed surgery immediately, his mother contacted us for help. At that time, there were few experienced doctors in Russia who were willing to perform operations without blood. We agreed to help locate a doctor who would use alternative treatments.

Soon we found a heart-surgery clinic in Kazan’ whose doctors agreed to perform the operation on young Pavel. On March 31, 1997, doctors performed a very successful bloodless operation to correct the serious heart condition called tetralogy of Fallot. On April 3, the newspaper Vechernyaya Kazan reported: “The little boy feels all right and no longer needs heart medication . . . Pavlik’s [a diminutive of Pavel] mother was able to breathe easily for the first time in eleven months.” In a short time, Pavel recovered from the operation and took his first steps in the hospital corridor.

Pavel now enjoys good health and lives a normal life. He likes to swim, ice skate, and play soccer. He is in the eighth grade in school, and along with his mother, he worships as part of the congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the city of Novosibirsk. After this experience, doctors at the same clinic successfully operated without the use of blood on several heart patients who are Jehovah’s Witnesses.

[Picture on page 15]

Pavel and his mother today