World Magazine article on Misha

A few weeks ago, we were contacted by Alisa Harris, a reporter for WORLD Magazine, about doing an article on Misha. Here's the article per WORLD Magazine's website!





One of their own

EASLEY, S.C.—When Philip and Melissa Johnson, the parents of eight children, volunteered to open their home temporarily to a disabled Russian orphan, an organization sent them a photo of 15-year-old Misha Bunitskiy. His hands were twisted towards his body. His elbows were locked straight. His arms were so fragile that you could close your fingers around them. His feet and legs were so mangled he had to walk on his knees.

But a friend told them, "He looks just like one of your children," and since Misha came to the Johnsons' home two months ago, he's become like one of their own. At first Misha had a breakdown if he spilled a drop of food. He was self-conscious about his deformities, especially his feet, until once when Melissa felt an impulse to kiss them. He started to cry, grabbed her in a hug and said, "Mom, I love you!"
It was a breakthrough, Melissa said: "I guess he felt that I had accepted something he's been rejected for." Misha's mother saw his crooked body and abandoned him at birth. Now the Johnsons hope to adopt Misha so he can stay after he completes his medical treatment and recovery. He is with them under the auspices of International Guardian Angels Outreach, a Christian organization that places disabled Russian orphans in temporary foster care while they get medical treatment.

There have been challenges—Misha hates American food and has to break habits he learned in the orphanage, where he smoked and drank—but he has bonded with the Johnson family. "He loved the children," Melissa said. "He really loved me. . . . He came up to me like he wanted to sit in my lap and I just grabbed him and hugged him, and he'd never had that before." He's a mix of strength and vulnerability, Melissa said—brave but terrified of pain.

Misha has already undergone a double amputation at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Greenville, S.C. He'll get a prosthesis and if he chooses, surgery to unlock his arms and fix his hands. For Misha to stay after his recovery is over, the adoption will have to go through before he turns 16 on May 9. Melissa hopes that happens, and that this adoption is part of a bigger one: "The bigger goal is to adopt him into the Lord's family. And you know, that's the reason we do this." — Alisa Harris

To read the entire article, with the other families featured, click here.