Kseniia was born on 16 July 2017. It seemed that all was well and we were discharged from the maternity hospital. We were very happy that our daughter had come into the world, but the joy proved short-lived.

On examining the child the local paediatrician said that the little girl had a loud heart murmur (at the maternity hospital we had been told nothing about it). The paediatrician gave us a referral to Odesa for an ultrasound scan and to hospital for a month so that the child could put on some weight (Ksiusha was born underweight). We thought it was nothing serious, since many newborn babies have a heart murmur and it passes before they are a year old. But, as it turned out, that is not so at all. We were given a terrible diagnosis: congenital heart disease — ventricular septal defect, multiple secondary atrial septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus, high pulmonary artery hypertension 1−2.

The girl needs an operation. The doctors guarantee her chances of life, but, unfortunately, we have no money for the device needed for the operation - a neonatal oxygenator, so we are turning to everyone who cares.

Please help our Kseniia!

Sincerely, Kseniia's mother.

For the ways you can help, see here.