TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Supporters have gathered outside a Topeka hospital where a man who was stuck in Ukraine last year while trying to adopt children has been recovering from a stroke.

The Topeka Capita-Journal reports  that 52-year-old Don Jenkins and his wife Lisa were in the spotlight last year when they adopted four children from Ukraine and got stuck there for weeks amid violence and civil unrest.

Don Jenkins suffered a major stroke after undergoing open-heart surgery recently. He remains a patient in the intensive care unit at a Topeka hospital.

About 100 members of his church gathered outside the hospital Sunday for a candlelight vigil for Jenkins.