Bondarenko Diana

My name is Diana Bodnarenco, I am 17 years old. I have a congenital heart defect – coarctation of the aorta. When I was only one month old, I was operated on. The surgery was successful, although it lasted a full 8 hours on an open heart, and today a large scar across my entire back reminds me of it.

Every two years my mother and I traveled to Kyiv to the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery, underwent examinations, and everything was relatively fine. But during the last examination in March 2016 we received the sad news that I absolutely needed to have an aortic stenting operation. The surgeon told us that there are now wonderful progressive methods and technologies for performing such an operation, but it is very expensive. The problem is that my mother raises me alone, works in a public job with a modest salary, and my father left our family more than ten years ago, does not keep in touch with us, and provides us with no help at all.

I urgently need to have a cardiac implant (stent) placed, which will expand the narrowing in the aorta, leading to normalized pressure and the physiological functioning of the heart. If this stent is not placed in time, the excessively high pressure in the brain’s vessels could cause a stroke at any moment.

I have a dream—to become an administrator at one of the holiday resorts in our picturesque Carpathian region, inviting and creating comfortable and affordable vacation conditions for tourists, both foreigners and our citizens from all corners of Ukraine. If my dream comes true, I will definitely invite the doctors and people who saved my life and are helping me now to a vacation. I also want to help animals and sick children. Moreover, since childhood I have been passionate about football, although I cannot play myself. In 2014 I independently wrote an article “Football Through Children’s Eyes” for the newspaper “Reporter”, for which I was awarded a certificate as the winner of the creative works competition of the school tournament.

Our family, through our combined efforts, has raised about 20,000 UAH, but this amount is not enough to cover the surgery. Therefore, I am reaching out with a heartfelt appeal to caring people who are able to help me gather the necessary funds for the operation. I truly want to be healthy, graduate from college successfully, and bring my dreams to life!

Full name: Diana Serhiyivna Bondarenko, 28.02.1999

City: Ivano-Frankivsk

Diagnosis: congenital heart defect – coarctation of the aorta

All details and documentation are here.