Tearful Reunion for Sister, Brother Needing Transplant
Leukemia-stricken Mikhail Shirman embraced his weeping sister, Inessa Fleurov, as she arrived today after an 11-month struggle to leave the Soviet Union to give her brother a bone-marrow transplant.
Fleurov, who left Moscow on Monday, arrived in Israel via Vienna with her husband, Victor, and their two daughters.
“It is very difficult to describe the situation we were in and the many, many people who helped us,” Fleurov, 37, told reporters at Ben-Gurion Airport.
The fight with Soviet authorities took Shirman last month to Iceland, where he attracted worldwide attention by demonstrating during the superpower summit.
“They told me in the United States that my appearance in Reykjavik was a breaking point for the Soviets,” Shirman said.
Fleurov will undergo tests Thursday to determine whether her bone marrow can be used. Shirman, 31, has leukemia and has two to three years to live without a transplant.
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