Shriners Aid Heroic Ukraine Burn Victim

BOSTON, USA -- She is a national hero in her homeland, hailed for plucking her little sister from their family home as it was consumed by flames.

Now, Nastya Ovchar, her body burned extensively during the rescue of her sister, lies in a room at Shriners Burns Hospital Boston, half a world away from her home in the Ukraine.

If they made a movie about Nastya, they could well call it ''The President and the Little Girl," for it was the intervention of a national leader who had endured his own share of physical suffering that assured the 5-year-old could receive lifesaving medical treatment.

On March 15 fire erupted in a home in the Ukraine's Kharkiv region, which sits on the border with Russia. Nastya and her 2-year-old sister, Lyuda, were in the house by themselves.

Nastya saved her sister from the fire; in the process, she sustained burns over 80 percent of her body, according to an Associated Press report from Kiev. Lyuda suffered comparatively minor injuries.

Tales of the rescue swiftly captured the attention of Ukrainians. That nation's newly installed president, Viktor Yushchenko, extended his assistance to Nastya. Yushchenko confronted pain and disfigurement last year, when he was poisoned during his campaign for president.

''Mr. Yushchenko always supported very young people. Children are the future of our country," said Iryna Bezverkha, press secretary of the Ukraine Embassy in Washington. ''This is a really inspiring story."

At first, Yushchenko, who spoke directly with Nastya, and his associates sought treatment in the Ukraine for the child.

''Unfortunately," Bezverkha said last night, ''these efforts were not enough for this little girl."

So the president, Ukraine lawmakers, and Yushchenko's wife banded together to secure treatment for Nastya outside their nation.

''And they found Shriners," said Kathy Golden, spokeswoman for the Boston hospital.

The Ukraine government arranged for the child to be flown to Boston, and she arrived Thursday night. The Shriners provide care free of charge at all of their hospitals.

Golden said privacy rules prevented her from releasing details of Nastya's condition, or even officially confirming her name, but she acknowledged that ''typically children with burns have many months of treatment."

The president intends to follow Nastya's recovery intently, the embassy spokeswoman said.

Golden said, ''They've been keenly interested in her care, because they really see her as a hero."