ROSLYN, Long Island (WABC) — A 9-year-old woman from Ukraine acquired surgical procedure Wednesday that might change her life ceaselessly.

St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center and Gift of Life Long Island partnered collectively to offer the life-changing coronary heart surgical procedure to 9-year-old Polina Shchepaniak.

She wanted surgical procedure to repair a gap between the 2 higher chambers of her coronary heart.

Doctors say it is a comparatively widespread defect that was historically fastened by means of open coronary heart surgical procedure.

However, Shchepaniak could not get the center operation in her homeland of Ukraine due to the struggle. That was till Wednesday.

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Sean Leychuck, the chair of pediatric cardiology at St. Francis Hospital, was capable of carry out a non-invasive process by utilizing a catheter and an umbrella-shaped devide, referred to as an Amplatzer ASD Occluder. With the gadget, it was capable of seize each side of the outlet and shut it.

Thanks to the medical doctors, the process was profitable and Shchepaniak recovered on the hospital.

“It is always a special day when you can give an assist to someone who is struggling through tough times,” Dr. Levchuck mentioned. “It’s especially great given the circumstances that surround this little girl’s case.”

Polina’s mom Kateryna Shchepaniak mentioned she has recognized about her daughter’s situation since she was simply 11 days previous.
After speaking with Gift of Life and Dr. Levchuck, the household made the journey from Ukraine to Long Island for the surgical procedure.

“I’m so grateful to St. Francis Hospital and Gift of Life,” Kateryna Shchepaniak mentioned. “It was always a big scare for me every time she got the flu or a cold because of the hole in her heart, but now I don’t have to worry.”

The Global Network of Gift of Life has helped greater than 43,000 kids from 80 nations.

Polina Shchepaniak’s surgical procedure was the primary Gift of Life sponsored process on Long Island since 2019 because of the COVID pandemic.

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