Kalashnikova Sasha

Oleksandra is two years old, and looking at this smiling girl you wouldn’t think she has any health problems. But Sasha’s heart is sick, and she urgently needs an operation to implant an internal cardiac device because she has a congenital heart defect—an open arterial duct.

The little girl, despite her very young age, has already endured a great deal: a difficult birth with complications, and in just 1 year she fell ill with colds six times, each time with a fever that rose to 39 °C and was hard to bring down; no doctor could explain the cause of such a high temperature.

Since birth, the pediatrician had heard heart murmurs in the child, but an ultrasound was recommended to be done at one year. After undergoing the ultrasound at the scheduled time, a congenital heart defect was found in the girl and she was advised to go to the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery for confirmation. But the young family could not raise the funds to even travel to Kyiv, and then – the tragedy that occurred in the East of our country.

Only after a year was the family able to save enough money to travel to Kyiv for an examination at the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery. After a thorough assessment, the doctors confirmed the diagnosis and told them that, unfortunately, without surgical intervention the defect will no longer close on its own and will only get larger. This could later lead to heart failure in the child. The surgery is free, but the price of the heart implant shocked the young family – 30 281 UAH.

I simply can’t raise that amount on my own. There’s nothing for the family to sell, as they own no property; they rent a house in Bakhmut, which is in the ATO zone. Mom receives state assistance of 860 UAH per month and is currently on maternity leave. Dad finished vocational school a year ago and can’t find a permanent job; he makes ends meet with temporary gigs, working either in the fields or as a loader.

Oleksandra, like a tiny motor, is always running somewhere, loves to dance, begins to say her first words, kisses the people she likes… it becomes very frightening when this little miracle pauses in the middle of play and, with a tired expression in her eyes, rests. The situation compels us to turn to all caring people, hoping that the kindness of your hearts will help Oleksandra’s little heart keep beating.

Full name: Kalashnikova Oleksandra Vladyslavivna, 09.05.2014

City: Bakhmut

Diagnosis: congenital heart defect – patent arterial duct

All details and documentation are here.