Valeria's Form

At 16 years old, Valeriia Blank has two congenital heart defects in one heart – a severe coarctation of the aorta and an open arterial duct, which were discovered by chance. Valeriia urgently needs surgery because her blood pressure spikes very often. She could suffer sudden death at any moment due to an aortic rupture. Extremely high pressure in the brain’s vessels could lead to a stroke. To keep Lera’s heart healthy, she needs two intracardiac implants that will fully correct the defects.

In March 2015, while attending classes at the vocational school, the girl felt very ill and her blood pressure rose to 170/120. She was taken from class to the hospital, where a full examination revealed a congenital heart defect – a severe coarctation of the aorta. Doctors advised her to go to Kyiv to the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery to confirm the diagnosis. In Kyiv the diagnosis was confirmed and another heart defect – a patent arterial duct – was discovered. For Valeriia to fully recover, an endovascular intervention is needed and cardiac implants must be placed, which cost a great deal: 92 876 UAH (stent) + 37 000 UAH = 129 876 UAH. For a large family this is simply an unaffordable sum.

Therefore they turned to the Future Hearts charity foundation for help. After providing all the necessary documents and detailing the seriousness of the situation, we understood that disaster could strike at any moment, so we decided not to delay and immediately sought assistance from UBB to together help Leri Blank raise funds for two intracardiac implants. The project started on 14.04.15. The fundraising was carried out via an online service. Thanks to the ICTV channel, a story was filmed and shown in the news block “Facts” on ICTV. The project involved 414 donors and, to the family’s relief, the required amount was collected by the record deadline of 30.04.15, thanks to all the compassionate people who could not remain indifferent to Lerochka’s fate.

06.05.15 at the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery a successful operation to implant intracardiac devices in Valeriia Blank was performed. Thanks to the intervention, on 08.05.15 the child was discharged from the clinic with a healthy heart. Sixteen‑year‑old Lera was very lucky, thanks to all the caring people who responded to her plight, the girl received a life‑saving operation in time. Now Lera can live a full life!

From the bottom of our hearts we thank the entire UBB team for their help in raising funds for the “Save Valeria Blank’s Heart” project. A huge thank you to the ICTV TV channel and the “Facts” program. Thank you for your diligent work and professionalism, for your humanity and inexhaustible compassion! We also express our deep gratitude to the Green Forest English language school and to all, all of the donors for their assistance and for not being indifferent to the fate of others.

Full name: Valeria Serhiyivna Blank, 13.02.1999

City: Zaporizhzhia

Diagnosis: congenital heart defect – severe coarctation of the aorta and patent arterial duct

All details and documentation are here.