Hi everyone,

I recently met a Ukrainian family who of course have been horribly affected by the war in Ukraine. They have given me permission to set up this page for them and permission to use their son's photo.

When the war broke out, the father, who is a British citizen and currently living in the UK, drove to the border to pick up his wife, 15 year old daughter, and 19 year old son. As their son has type 1 diabetes, and has hearing difficulties, they thought he would be exempt from serving in the war, but as they got to the border, he wasn't allowed to leave with his family. The family are incredibly proud of their son's bravery and his willingness to stay and defend their home town as part of the Territorial Defence, but they are incredibly worried about him. Not only is it becoming increasingly difficult for him to get hold of his insulin to treat his diabetes, his hearing aids are running out of battery and need replacing. His family are terrified that if their home city comes under attack, Denys will be unable to hear commands.

They are not in the position to buy a new pair of hearing aids outright, as the cost of the pair he needs is around £2,500 so I hope that we can come together and raise the money for the family to source these hearing aids and get them to Denys.

Any additional money raised will go towards sending the hearing aids over to Ukraine and a charity helping with Ukrainian aid, like the British Red Cross' Ukrainian Aid appeal.