Heroic Organ Transplant Amidst Conflict
In the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, doctors performed a remarkable organ transplant from a four-year-old girl who died due to Russian shelling. This procedure was lifesaving for three other children.
This was the first case of such a transplant in the history of the medical facility, as reported by the National Children's Specialized Hospital "Okhmatdyt".
The four-year-old patient from Zhytomyr Oblast was brought to the hospital at the end of last week. On the night of July 10, the medical team confirmed her brain death.
The medical team, along with psychologists, obtained the family's consent for posthumous organ donation.
"This decision is heroic. It saved the lives of three children," emphasized the doctors.
After the family's consent was obtained, the specialists began their meticulous work. The challenges included managing logistics, matching recipients, and organizing surgeries under conditions of air raid alerts and missile attacks.
Thanks to the Unified State Information System for Transplantation, they were able to find children who needed the organs. Two of them were already at "Okhmatdyt".
Among them was a 16-year-old girl with Wilson-Konovalov disease, who required an urgent liver transplant. According to the doctors, she was in intensive care, and a new organ was her only chance of survival.
Additionally, kidneys were transplanted to a 14-year-old boy who had been living in the hospital for over seven months due to dialysis.
Moreover, specialists transplanted a heart to a 12-year-old girl with a critical status.
In total, the surgeries lasted more than 13 hours – the doctors did not stop even amidst sirens and nighttime explosions. This was essential, as the success of the transplantation is highest when organs are outside the body for the shortest time possible.
"Our recipients were in very serious condition. I am sincerely grateful to the parents for understanding that their decision gave a chance at life to three children," shared transplant surgeon Oleg Hodik.
Previously, Kyiv doctors saved three-year-old Bohdan, who was born without bile ducts, by performing a liver transplant from his father.
