Bogdan Bastovi co-founded the Kiev Children and Youth Support Center and has dedicated over 30 years personally helping orphanages and orphans that have "graduated" from the orphanage system in Ukraine. He provides mentoring, skills training, legal assistance, help with food and housing, and whatever is required to keep orphans in vocational school or employed, off the streets, and safe (see below). Bogdan holds degrees in law and teaching English & French as foreign languages. He is also a freelance translator.

Bogdan is currently battling stage 4 stomach and esophagus cancer. On October 22, following chemotherapy and THREE surgeries, he was transferred from the Cancer Institute to a private hospital. Unfortunately, the private hospital is beyond his financial capabilities as the care costs $500-800 PER DAY.

Bogdan has devoted his life to supporting vulnerable children without parents. He has saved the lives of many graduates more than once. Even now, despite his health condition, Bogdan continues to take part in his foundation’s work, and he still deeply cares for all the graduates and their children. These funds are required to keep this amazing man alive. God is not done with Bogdan. God will use all of us to help Bogdan get well again.

100% of the funds raised will go DIRECTLY to Bogdan and his ongoing cancer fight. Thank you for your help!

MEDICAL JOURNEY

7/6 Diagnosed with stage 3 cancer in his stomach and esophagus

9/9 Finished pre-surgery chemotherapy

10/6 Surgery at the Cancer Institute (surgery was postponed due to too many patients developing complications because of infection). Bogdan spent 4 thousand dollars shopping for and purchasing his own tools and supplies for his surgery “starting from simple things like paper towels and ending with complicated surgical tools.”

10/9 Bogdan diagnosed with pneumonia

10/13 Second surgery. “They checked everything, patched the holes, installed additional drains, created a stoma to the side for nutritional administration, and hooked me up to a fluid drain.”

10/16 Emergency follow up surgery. “They opened my abdomen again, cleaned out all the pus, made an incision in my right chest, and brought my esophagus out into my neck. I spent the night in intensive care.”

10/22 Transferred from the Cancer Institute and to a private clinic in Dobrobut. He was moved to Dobrobut because the chances that he will now survive are much greater. “The hospital is excellent and they do everything to improve my condition"

11/10 left hospital but still has to be fed through a feeding tube in his side. “I go (to the hospital) every day to take care of the wounds, do blood tests etc. I have one big wound on my stomach that is not healing well. Oncologist told me I have maximum two months, to get better so they can start chemotherapy again (7k dollars). In the spring I will have another surgery at the Cancer Institute. I feel, talk and walk like a 95-year-old. Extremely weak, short of breath (because of pneumonia), need help with everything . "

BIOGRAPHY

Bogdan began his humanitarian work in 1994, while still a university student, supporting children at Orphanage No.12 - an institution for orphans with learning disabilities. While he was a student, he spent his free time doing translation work and used what he earned to help children in need. The needs were so great that in 2004 Bogdan co-founded a nonprofit foundation to help orphans and orphanages - Kiev Children and Youth Support Center. He has led the Support Center ever since it was created.

The foundation’s assistance reached far beyond Kyiv — supporting graduates of boarding schools for children without parental care and for those with physical or mental disabilities, as well as orphanages and special-needs schools across Ukraine. The young people leaving these institutions received legal assistance and psychological support, help finding jobs and housing, and access to a microcredit program offering small loans to help them get on their feet. Bogdan remained personally and actively involved in their lives — helping them renovate and furnish their homes, providing financial support when they started families, and standing by them through difficult times. He also extended his help to other children and young people facing crises. The foundation provided monthly scholarships to orphans studying in vocational schools and colleges, helping them continue their education without financial worry. With Bogdan’s leadership and care, life-skills workshops, creative activities, and trips across Ukraine and abroad were organized, giving children who had rarely left their institutions a chance to explore the wider world and grow in confidence.

For children who were still living in orphanages at the time, the foundation purchased medical equipment and medicines and helped create safe, nurturing spaces — rooms for speech therapy, art therapy, physiotherapy, sensory play, and computer learning — places where children could heal, grow, and discover their abilities. With the foundation’s support, children gained greater opportunities for physical development and often won prizes in national sports competitions. Bogdan also personally accompanied seriously ill children abroad for treatment and helped them with rehabilitation afterwards. Thanks to him, many children received a second chance at life.

When the war began, Bogdan immediately took action to protect the children and graduates along with their families. He organized their evacuation from occupied and high-risk regions, paid for accommodation, and made sure they had food, clothing, and essentials. He also helped graduates with disabilities relocate abroad and start a new life in safety, staying in touch to support them as they adjusted.

Bogdan has devoted his life to supporting vulnerable children without parents. He has saved the lives of many graduates more than once. Even now, while in hospital and despite his health condition, Bogdan continues to take part in the foundation’s work, and he still deeply cares for all the graduates and their children.