Plinska Mariyana

Urgently needed heart surgery for a future mother – 33‑year‑old Mariia Plinska. She was born with a congenital heart defect: stenosis of the bicuspid aortic valve. Unfortunately, Mariia did not receive the operation in time. Now she is 4.5 months pregnant, awaiting her first child. But, sadly, Mariia’s life is at risk, and without the surgery she could lose the baby.

In Kyiv, these operations are performed only at the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery. Such a procedure is done on an open heart under the supervision of doctors from IPAG AMN of Ukraine. However, the state does not provide doctors with the medications needed for these complex and essential surgeries. To have the operation carried out, Mariyani must independently purchase a list of medications together with a biological valve, which costs 82 887 UAH. The girl has nowhere to obtain such funds.

Recently Mariyani’s mother passed away, and the girl was let go from her job… She found herself in a very difficult situation; all that the girl managed to gather together with her older sister is 20 000 UAH. Without the help of caring people, Mariyani cannot manage on her own. Doctors are insisting on an urgent operation. We have only a week to keep two hearts beating!

Letter from Mariyana:

I was born with a congenital heart defect; I have stenosis of a bicuspid aortic valve. Knowing about the heart defect and being under care at the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery since 2009, I barely felt its presence until 2016, when the disease began to progress and I experienced what heart pain truly feels like.

Doctors, as much as they could, postponed the surgery, because one's own valve, even with a defect, is always better than a prosthesis. But in January 2017 I was told that the operation could no longer be delayed and was advised to start raising funds for it. At that very time I was hit by a layoff at work. The moment I needed financial support more than ever, I was left without it. My parents are unable to support me, because in the same 2016 I lost the person closest to me—my mother… My father is a pensioner who himself needs assistance. The only one who works in our family is my sister, but since she helps both me and my father, she cannot set aside money for my operation from her salary.

I tried to find a job—there were even offers from employers—but as soon as they heard that I was scheduled for heart surgery and that the rehabilitation period could be over a month, they turned me down immediately. In addition, in February I became pregnant, although the gynecologists said that with my thyroid condition and the results of the gynecological examinations, it would be very difficult. But a real miracle happened, despite the doctors’ pessimistic diagnoses. Becoming a mother has long been my dream, and under other circumstances this news would have been the happiest in the world. However, in my situation the pregnancy added extra strain on my heart, and now the operation can no longer be postponed.

At the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery they gave me hope for rescue. And I really want to believe in it, because for every woman a child is what makes life worth living! Therefore I appeal to all caring people for help, with the belief that my child will get a chance to see this beautiful world!

Thank you, everyone! Thank you!

“Mariyana”.

Full name: Plinska Mariana Eduardivna, 11.08.1983 r.

City: Brovary, Kyiv Oblast

Diagnosis: congenital heart defect – bicuspid aortic valve stenosis

All details and documentation are here.