STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- An elderly woman about to be deported from Sweden to Ukraine was granted a two-week stay, giving her family time to find a way of keeping her in the country.
The reprieve for Ganna Chyzhevska, 90, who suffers from dementia and heart disease, comes after much fighting on her behalf by her daughter and granddaughter, The Local reported.
"I am just waiting now to have concrete confirmation that they have rescheduled her flight in two weeks' time," granddaughter Anna Otto told The Local Monday.
Chyzhevska's daughter and granddaughter have applied for residency on her behalf seven times since Chyzhevska's husband died of cancer eight years ago. The applications were denied by the Swedish Migration Board, despite Chyzhevska's poor health conditions and her family in Sweden wanting to care for her.
"Before 1997 we were allowed to grant residency to elderly parents whose adult children were living in Sweden, but then the law was changed," Mikael Ribbenvik, legal expert at the Migration Board. "And we are not allowed to take into consideration whether the patient will be able to afford the treatment in their country or not."
But the family says it has received an outpouring of public support since word of Chyzhevska's predicament got out.
"It is my firm belief that no one should have to fear growing old in Sweden and that there should be a way for the authorities to make exceptions for distressing circumstances such as these," said Liberal Party Member of Parliament Barbro Westerholm.
