Man fights to return home to be with dying grandfather
Submitted photo
Christopher, with his wife, Yuliya, and their infant son Micheal, is trying to return home to Greene County to be with his grandfather, Robert Barnhart, who is critically ill.
Submitted photo
Robert Barnhart, of Mt. Morris, Greene County, recently had a FaceTime call with his grandson, who is trying to leave Panama to visit his grandfather.
World War II veteran Robert Barnhart has a dying wish: to see his grandson, Christopher, one last time and to meet Christopher’s wife and newborn son.
“He basically raised me,” said Christopher, whose grandfather, of Mt. Morris, Greene County, moved him from Chambersburg to a farm in Waynesburg after he spent four years in the foster care system, starting at age 3. “He was tough, but I’ve had an incredible life because of him.”
Barnhart, 96, has final stage heart failure and end-stage renal failure, and is under hospice care at his home.
Christopher, who lives and works in Ukraine with Yuliya and their 5-week-old son, Micheal, is currently in Panama with them and is determined to fulfill Barnhart’s last wish and be by his grandfather’s side, as Barnhart was for him.
But Christopher’s efforts to return home with his family – which began more than one month ago – have been stymied by obstacles, including the war in Ukraine and bureaucratic paperwork.
“I would move heaven and hell to be with him and that says something about how much he means to me,” said Christopher.
On Monday, he found out that, by the end of next week, he and his family will make it home, after Yuliya was granted a temporary business visa.
Their odyssey began on Dec. 5, 2021, when Christopher and Yuliya, who was then seven months’ pregnant, flew to Panama for a working honeymoon. They had bought a sailboat, and planned to make improvements while enjoying the Central American country.
But the Panamanian government refused to let the couple return to Ukraine following the vacation, citing that it was “unsafe for a seven-months-pregnant woman to depart,” Christopher said.
On Feb. 24, while Christopher and his wife were stranded in Panama – where his wife’s visa had expired – Russia invaded Ukraine.
Following the guidance of the U.S. Embassy in Panama, the couple filed an emergency visa application for an I-130 (petition for an alien relative, which is the first step in helping an eligible relative apply to immigrate to the United States) and requested the application review be expedited so they can be with Barnhart. But neither of those applications have yet been reviewed, Christopher said on Monday.
Christopher said the U.S. State Department has scheduled an appointment on the matter – for Dec. 7, 2023, more than 1½ years away.
“The most frustrating part out of all this, besides being given deadlines and all of those deadlines passing, is that nobody seems to care,” said Christopher. “We’re 32 or 33 days into this.”
In the meantime, Barnhart’s health has deteriorated.
A physician’s assistant from Louis A. Johnson’s Veterans Administration Medical Center in Clarksburg, W.Va. who oversees Barnhart’s care, wrote a letter on March 29 stating that he “has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and is in need of immediate caregiving from his family.”
The letter states that Christopher is the medical power of attorney for Barnhart.
“(Christopher’s) assistance to Mr. Barnhart is urgently needed at this time,” the P.A. said.
A letter from Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown also indicated Barnhart’s dire medical straits.
“I haven’t seen the mother and baby yet, and I would like to seem them before I go,” Barnhart in a telephone conversation Monday. “I’m glad they’re still working on it.”
A business owner who operates manufacturing, exporting and technology companies and is director of an NGO medical nonprofit, Christopher credits Barnhart – and his strict rules along with his guidance – for his achievements.
Christopher was assigned chores – he learned to make his bed military-style, hospital corners and flat and firm enough to bounce a quarter on – and he woke up at 5 a.m. to start the day.
“He was strict, but he did something that made it possible for me to succeed in this world. When I wanted to know how to do something, he would teach me to figure out how to do it,” said Christopher. “I’ve been at the top of major international corporations, lived in dozens of countries, and led a fulfilling life because of his instruction.”
Three years ago, Christopher purchased a house in Mt. Morris for Barnhart, who spent much of his life in Spraggs, so that he could be closer to medical facilities.
Every three months, Christopher returns to visit Barnhart, who had worked for decades as a mechanic before he retired.
Christopher noted that Barnhart earned the designation of “atomic veteran” during World War II, a distinction given to military veterans who were exposed to ionizing radiation while present at the site of a nuclear event during the war.
Barnhart was awarded the American Theater Ribbon, Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon, World War II Occupation Ribbon of Japan, the Victory Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.
As recently as last year, when he was 95, Barnhart was active, cutting his own grass and doing house chores.
In August 2021, Barnhart fell during the night and struck his head on a nightstand. He spent hours on the floor before he reached a medical alert necklace. Barnhart was taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital. By the time he left, he was walking long distances unassisted, Christopher said.
But during a two-week stay at a West Virginia nursing home, Barnhart’s health deteriorated.
“He’s been struggling ever since he got out of there. He’s struggled daily to have any kind of life. It wasn’t the fall,” Christopher maintained.
In his quest to return home, Christopher contacted the Veterans Administration, U.S. State Department, and senators and congressmen from Pennsylvania and the state of California, where he maintains a residence.
Over the weekend, he reached out to the Observer-Reporter, of which Barnhart is a longtime reader.
Sen. Pat Toomey’s office said Monday that they were investigating the case, aware that time is critical.
On Monday afternoon, Christopher and Yuliya appeared at the U.S. Embassy in Panama to seek a tourist visa, which would enable his wife to visit the United States for 30 days.
“It’s a last-ditch effort, a Hail Mary,” said Christopher as he was driving to the embassy.
There, he got the news that Yuliya would instead be granted the business visa.
It was welcome news.
At the same time that Christopher has been working to get Yuliya to the United States, they have worked to help members of her family get out of war-torn Ukraine. Yulia’s sister was able to flee, but her mother, a child psychiatrist, remains behind, where she is working with the Ukrainian government to evaluate the mental health of Ukrainian soldiers.
“It will be worth it,” said Christopher. “We’re doing all of this, and my grandfather is doing everything to hang on so he can meet his great-grandson.”