A Belarussian dad desperate to find the kind Glaswegian woman who took him in as a child has shared a tearful message of thanks.
Sergey Susha formed a close bond with Jean Robertson while on respite holidays in Glasgow as a 'disadvantaged' child between 1994 and 1999.
He was brought over by ‘Children in Trouble’ for recuperative breaks after being diagnosed with cancer and having to undergo life-saving treatment which included having one of his eyes removed.
Sergey contacted Glasgow Live through a family friend in a bid to track down Jean, who became 'like a mother to him', to thank her for showing him a 'different happy and fulfilling life’.
The pair lost contact in 2001 after Sergey's father refused to allow his son to travel back to Glasgow to stay with Jean, who had learned Russian to enable them to communicate better. All of their correspondence was later lost in a fire at Sergey's family home.
The father-of-three was only able to remember Jean's name and a rough description of where she lived. He also relayed memories of playing with her neighbours, two young boys named Robert and Melville.
After publishing Sergey's story, we were contacted by a number of people who knew Jean and her work with the Belarussian charity. Sadly, it transpired that Jean passed away in 2005 - just four years after she and Sergey last spoke - after a long period of illness.
We discovered that Jean was a pharmacist from Clydebank. She ran a chemist in Bearsden and was also on the board of a local school.
One of Jean's neighbours was so inspired by her work with the charity that he himself visited Belarus on two occasions.
He said: "Jean was such a loving, kind woman. She devoted her life to helping other people. Jean got me involved in the charity. I had the opportunity of visiting Belarus twice."
Although we were unable to reunite Sergey and Jean, we were able to track down pictures of the two during their time together and provide Sergey with some memories of his stays in Scotland.
In a tearful video clip shared with Glasgow Live, he said: "Thank you very much for helping me find Jean's neighbour, I remember him very well. It's sad news to lose such a person and that she didn't know what she was for me.
"She did everything for me. I am very pleased to have found out and thank you to those for helping.
"I'm shocked and very sad that Jean has passed away, thank you so much for the photos - I was pleased to see myself in my childhood as there are no other photos.
"We will always remember Jean as a very special and kind person."
Thank you to our readers who got in touch.
