Meet Victoria

Six year old Victoria was one of the thousands of Belarusian children who await life saving heart surgery -- until October 2005, when she was one of 30 children whose lives were saved during a cardiac mission funded by supporters of Chernobyl Children's Project International.

Victoria -- with her diagnosis of subvalvular and supervalvular aortic stenosis -- was deemed inoperable, until her successful surgery on October 3.  She is doing great.

CCPI provides funding to a team of  American cardiac surgeons to enable them to make three surgical trips per year to Belarus. The medical trips, led by William Novick, MD, provide surgery for many children deemed inoperable by Belarusian cardiologists. Dr. Novick, a CCPI board member, memorably appears in the film Chernobyl Heart. The program provides state of the art equipment and technology to work and train local physicians.

Today in Belarus, thousands of children await treatment for cardiac conditions that would be practically routine matters in the United States or Europe. Without intervention, most of the children will die within three to five years. In contrast to many humanitarian cardiac medical programs, which sponsor a handful of children to travel to the United States for surgery, we are able to save 20 - 30 children on each of these trips. Because our cardiac surgeons travel to the region to perform the surgeries, we are able to reach and save many more lives and, just as importantly, provide much needed training to local physicians.

You can help us continue these important life saving trips with a donation designated to CARDIAC.