Judith BellSpecial to the Valley NewsAlexander Hranchenko, 36, escaped from the horrors of war last October as he made his way from his village in the Kmerson region of the Ukraine to Wheeling, IL, a northern suburb of Chicago.“I wanted to stay and fight. However, my life was not fully my own as I needed to save my family.” Alex did so by getting his parents and sister’s family and dog to Slovakia.“I found a house for my family and then decided with my family safe from the war, I could go to America.”Alex found shelter for his wife and 13-year-old daughter, Victoria, with friends in Poland the previous spring. He had been in touch with a friend and a friend of a friend to get sponsorship through “United for Ukraine” an American government program. His fri
