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Retired Lakeland doctor staying in Ukraine to help
Ken Suarez reports.
LAKELAND, Fla. - A retired Lakeland doctor with ties to Ukraine is possibly risking her life by volunteering to help victims of violence in a restaurant turned makeshift medical facility about 30 miles southwest of Kyiv.
The doctor, who FOX 13 is calling Tonya to protect her identity, is in her 70s and her passion for her home country of Ukraine runs deep.
Every day, her husband, John Mc Colley, a former U.S. Marine now in his 80s, hangs a Ukrainian flag in front of his house to honor his wife and the war-torn country where she has her roots.
"I am proud of her. She is a person who cares very much about her country. She realized the risks and she is willing to take them, like most Ukrainians are," Mc Colley told FOX 13.
About a month ago, right before the tensions escalated, she decided to go to Ukraine to help her family, and trying to convince her otherwise was just not an option.
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‘She is an independent, very strong, very intelligent woman," McColley said. "I am not going to be the person to tell her you can’t go. That isn’t going to happen in our marriage.
Tonya helped her daughter and granddaughter escape to Poland, but she decided to stay because she thought she could be of use.
Villagers turned a local restaurant into a makeshift medical facility, in case the violence comes to their town, and there are casualties. Tonya would be able to care for them. Although Mc Colley respects her altruism, it is still a very difficult time for him.
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"I worry all the time. I cry. I cry when I talk to her, when I think about it," he said.
But, at least for now, Tonya is determined to stay in Ukraine, at the ready, until she decides otherwise.