FITCHBURG, MASS. (WHDH) - A Fitchburg woman and her father are sharing a story of survival after fleeing war-torn Ukraine with a newborn baby.
Before Russia invaded, Fitchburg physician William Hubbard went to Ukraine to help his pregnant daughter, Aislinn, who was studying ballet. the 19-year-old gave birth to her son Seraphim, but then the fighting began, and as they tried to cross the border to Slovakia, Ukranian officials stopped them because Seraphim didn’t have a birth certificate.
“They automatically assumed it was some sort of child trafficking,” William Hubbard said.
William Hubbard said he arranged a DNA test to prove Seraphim was Aislinn’s child, but it made no difference. Officials told them they could cross the border if they left Seraphim behind.
The family was held for six days with others who had documentation problems before they were allowed to go to a hotel and plan to meet with a lawyer. But they were told it could take two to six months to get a hearing, and they’re hoping for intervention from the State Department.
“I flew to Ukraine to get my daughter out of the country which we finally accomplished, then I got her to safety in Prague, she’s starting to rebuild her life now which is really great and we are really happy that that’s happened,” Hubbard said.
Now that they are safe, Aislinn sat down with 7NEWS to describe her harrowing escape.
“If I would have run into soldiers or the military — if that would have happened, I would be facing something very serious,” she said.
Just days ago Aislinn, her boyfriend and little Seraphim were forced to flee Ukraine on foot. They hiked several miles through the mountains in the cold all while carrying her son.
“I was walking along the valley and I stepped on some ground that was soft and I ended up falling about 20 feet in a mudslide,” said Aislinn. “Thankfully no one got hurt. The baby got scared, I got deathly scared but I had to pull myself up out of this valley on the roots of trees. I got completely covered in mud, completely soaking wet and it was cold outside. It was dark when this happened so it was quite scary.”
Once in Slovakia, the young family was finally able to get the help they were looking for.
“The Slovaks were absolutely wonderful. They produced documents for Aislinn and Seraphim and Aislinn’s boyfriend in a matter of hours when our State Department and our US Embassy couldn’t do it in four months,” Hubbard said.
From Slovakia, the family then traveled to Prague to begin their new life. Aislinn said she will start that new life without ever forgetting what they had in Ukraine.
“Having to leave my whole life behind was really difficult. I lost everything that I had — that was saddening. But, I am more so happy to be safe now,” she said. “My only other option was to stay in a war zone for six months and honestly, I think that was putting my life and my baby’s life at risk. And I couldn’t do that.”
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