9-year-old Ukrainian girl gets lifesaving heart surgery on Long Island after war canceled procedure overseas
ROSLYN, N.Y. -- A child who could not get critically-needed surgery in war-torn Ukraine has gotten the gift of life from doctors on Long Island.
Friday, she thanked the team that made it possible, CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported.
Polina Shchepaniak is just 9 years old and can finally return to kid stuff.
"I am very good," Polina said. "Five days, I am very fast running and I like it."
For as long as Polina can remember, life has been limited due to a dangerous heart defect. A hole between the two upper chambers of her heart caused constant shortness of breath and fatigue.
Life-altering surgery became impossible when the war broke out.
"She was actually scheduled for surgery in March in Ukraine, but because of the bombings and the air raids, they can't risk it because power would shut down and you would lose the patient," said Harry Miller with Gift of Life.
"It's a progressive type of lesion. So, initially, they're tired, they don't grow well," said Dr. Sean Levchuck, chair of pediatric cardiology at St. Francis Hospital. "As they approach the adult years, the arrhythmias and the heart failure begins."
"I say 'Polina, don't run. Stop Polina, sit please,' and she said, 'Why? I want to be like all kids,'" said Polina's mom Kateryna Shchepaniak.
Thanks to Gift of Life, which started at St. Francis Hospital to promote world peace, Polina can have a long, healthy life ahead.
"Every day you make miracles for children and for their parents," Shchepaniak said.
The nonprofit brought Polina and her mom from Ukraine. Wednesday, doctors plugged the hole in her heart in a noninvasive procedure.
Polina is the first Gift of Life patient at St. Francis in three years due to the pandemic.
"This surgery, it's for me, so cool," Polina said.
The assist was extra emotional for Levchuck, who is of Ukrainian descent and has saved hundreds of children.
"It's pretty special," Levchuck said.
After follow-up visits at St. Francis, Polina will return to Ukraine with a plug in her heart and gratitude to last a lifetime.
Gift of Life has helped more than 43,000 children from 80 countries.
Each year, more than 1.3 million children are born with heart defects and more than 90 percent are born in countries where they don't have access to state of the art medical care that can change their lives.
