From the basement of the hospital in Ukraine to surgery at Shaarei Tzedek: the treatment that saved 6-year-old Artyom's hand | Israel today

From hemodialysis in a basement under fire in Ukraine to surgery in Shaare Zedek: the treatment that saved 6-year-old Artyom's hand.

Artyom was born in a town near Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

When he was in his mother's womb he was diagnosed with a developmental disease that caused him to have kidney failure and later severe kidney failure.

At the age of four and a half he underwent a kidney transplant in Belarus, but unfortunately a year later, his body rejected the transplant.

In the last year and a half, Artyom continued to receive hemodialysis treatments in Ukraine.

The medical challenge changed with the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The town where Artyom and his parents live received heavy barrages of fire and all activity at the hospital went into emergency mode.

Most of the doctors were absent from the workplace and the senior doctors stayed under fire in shelters together with the patients for weeks.

Yulia, Artyom's mother, who volunteered to spend the night there and help the team tells about the shocking moments: "One day we woke up and heard shelling.

We got it very hard.

The children of the dialysis department slept in the basement and in a room measuring 10 meters there were 16 children on mattresses with the staff.

The treatments in the basement were under fire.'

Yulia added that: "Two days before the start of the shelling, Artyom underwent surgery to implant a new fistula, which is used for the treatments.

The poor level of maintenance due to the condition led to infection and swelling began to appear in his hand.

The next day, the director of the dialysis unit arrived and announced that an Israeli rescue force was coming to evacuate children who were interested in continuing medical treatment in Israel.

We decided to come to Israel.'

A destroyed building near Kyiv, photo: AFP

"It was very scary"

11 children nephrologists and oncologists and their parents were traveling in the bus on the way to the flight to Israel.

"We left the hospital and the children saw the destruction.

was very scary.

It took a day and a half until we reached the Romanian border.

When we arrived in Romania, a rescue plane was waiting for us accompanied by a medical team from Schneider Hospital.'

The medical team that took off for the operation included two doctors and two nurses who spoke the language: Prof. Irit Krauze, director of Children's Ward C, Dr. Avihai Weisbach, senior physician in the intensive care unit, Yulia Nikitin, nurse in Children's Ward C, and Natalia Sirota, intensive care nurse. The children arrived at the Schneider hospital and were referred to hospitalization in the various departments.

The rescue operation, which was conducted in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Transport, was made possible thanks to private individuals and companies who joined in its execution.

The complex logistical arrangement was organized by businessman Ofer Krazner, Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Jerusalem and owner of Citi Capital Group, together with Raphael Yoha, CEO of Citi Capital Group in Kyiv. The special flight to bring the children and their parents to Schneider was organized and financed by businessmen Ami Lustig and Roy Ben Yami from the LR group.

A humanitarian gesture

When Artyom arrived at the hospital, it became clear that his fistula was not working, causing significant swelling and dysfunction of the hand.

After a consultation, Artyom was referred by Dr. Yael Borovitch, a senior physician in the dialysis unit of the Schneider Center, to Dr. David Shemesh, director of the dialysis access surgery unit, and Dr. Adam Parkash, director of the angiography unit at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, senior experts in the field At Shaare Zedek, Artyom was operated on free of charge, as a humanitarian gesture.

Dr. Parkash, who led the treatment: "Artyom came to us with a combination of blockage in the veins in the chest together with a fistula. This combination caused severe edema and dysfunction of the hand. Artyom underwent catheterization to close the unwanted connections in blood vessels. It was happy and exciting It's great to see that the hand has returned to itself."

Artyom's mother added that: "We were moved by the mobilization that saved Artyom's life.

I thank the doctors at Shaare Zedek who received him and treated him professionally.

The hand is in excellent condition and Artyom's mood is good following the benefit in hand position.

These days he needed a kidney transplant for the second time and hopes to find a suitable donor.

I thank the doctors and nurses in all the hospitals in Israel who joined in the dedicated care.'

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