On the occasion of World Organ Donation and Transplantation Day, First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska visited the children’s hospital “Okhmatdyt” and met with young patients and their parents.
The family of Maksym Yaremenko shared that when he was just four months old, he developed severe liver damage. A compatible donor could not be found, so doctors performed the first incompatible transplant in Ukraine.
Polina Kostrytsia’s parents explained that at the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, their daughter was admitted to the hospital with liver cirrhosis. Alongside her mother, she had to descend into the basement six times a day, carrying an oxygen tank she depended on to breathe. Polina’s donor was her older brother.
The First Lady expressed her gratitude to the transplantation team for their work. The doctors have undergone training in Japan, the United States, and the Republic of Korea. They also collaborate with Polish colleagues from the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw, which signed a Memorandum of Understanding with “Okhmatdyt” during the Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen in September 2023.
“Our doctors are able not only to learn but also to share their unique experience, because Ukrainian transplants are now being performed under extreme conditions. Medical teams have learned to carry out procedures under Russian shelling and even during power outages. Today, visiting “Okhmatdyt,” its heroic patients and doctors, I think about how organ donation is called the highest form of humanity – because a person literally saves another by giving a part of themselves,” said Olena Zelenska.
The number of transplants in Ukraine grows each year. This year alone, more than 450 procedures have been performed. For comparison, during the same period last year, the number was slightly more than 370.