Fundraising Marathon

To do a good deed, you don’t have to wait for tomorrow—start today! Run Ukraine, the organizer of the Nova Poshta Kyiv Half Marathon 2017, invites you to join the charitable initiative—a spring fundraising marathon that will raise funds to support more than 10 projects from various foundations and organizations.

Meet our team, Bohdan Cherpak and Ihor Ditkivskyi.

We are endovascular cardiac surgeons at the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery. We are running to raise funds for an X‑ray tube for the department of endovascular treatment of congenital and structural heart defects, so we can continue to do the work of our lives—saving the hearts of Ukrainians! Children in Ukraine, despite the challenging economic situation, deserve treatment that meets European standards.

The department urgently needs to restore full operation, take on complex surgeries, and each year save the lives of both young and adult patients at Amosov who travel from all over Ukraine. Recently, the X‑ray tube in this equipment burned out, depriving surgeons of the direct projection of the heart and internal organs they rely on during operations. This projection gave them a more complete picture of organ condition, essential for performing high‑quality surgeries. Because that tube is no longer working, the second X‑ray tube—still functional—must now bear double the workload to ensure each operation is successful.

The equipment is currently operating in emergency mode and, due to heavy load, could completely break down at any moment… To restore full functionality of the department, it is vital to purchase a new Megalix Cat X‑ray tube, which costs 1 million UAH. This will enable the department to resume full operation.

Every year in Ukraine about 5,000 children are born with congenital heart defects, and a quarter of them require emergency surgical care within the first days of life. Currently, more than 60,000 children in Ukraine are living with these conditions.

The Endovascular Treatment Department for congenital and structural heart defects is the leader in the number of X‑ray procedures performed on children and adults in Ukraine. Our equipment and the expertise of our physicians enable us to carry out about 400 procedures a year, both for the tiniest patients (as young as a few hours old) and for elderly individuals for whom open‑heart surgery would be too risky.

Now, not only the doctors of the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery are reaching out to you for help, but also all the little patients. Support our project and give life to the device that will save more than a thousand children's lives in the future!

Bohdan's Project: I Run So That Little Hearts Keep Beating! Bohdan Cherpak

Serhiy's Project: I run so that hearts keep beating! Ihor Ditkivskyi