Friday fundraiser will help 2 young Russians get their legs fixed

CANFIELD

Nicholai “Kolya” Denykin used duct tape as a temporary fix on the prosthetic for his left limb until an adjustment could be made.

Getting to Advanced Anatomical Design took about 11 hours and covered nearly 5,000 miles.

Kolya, 14, and his traveling companion, Vlad Makarov, 24, made the trip from Russia and arrived in the United States Sept. 11 for a two-week stay.

Both have right and left leg prostheses that need adjustments costing $9,100.

A fundraiser spaghetti dinner is planned Friday at Western Reserve United Methodist Church to help pay for them.

Kolya and Makarov are helped through Project Orphan Outreach, formerly To Russia with Love, led by the Rev. Kathryn Adams, who took 22 mission team trips to Russian orphanages starting in 1996.

The Valley minister met Makarov and Kolya at Renewal Orphanage in Dimitrov, Russia, in 2006. Makarov came to America in 2008 when when he was 17 to be fitted with prosthetics by Craig Svader of AAD. Kolya did the same in 2010 when he was 10.

The technology proved to be life-changing for the two who had used wheelchairs and crude prosthetics.

Read more of their stories in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.