Girl returns to Ukraine after life-saving surgery
A 10-year-old girl from Ukraine, who spent Christmas in a Calgary hospital recovering from life-saving heart surgery, will now have the chance to celebrate the holiday in her home country.
A healthy Oksana Olinyk and her mother, Nataliya, will arrive home in Ukraine Friday, the second day of Ukrainian Christmas.
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Oksana was born with a hole in her heart and underwent her first surgery in Europe at the age of three. She was brought to Canada three years ago by the charity Medical Mercy Canada for her first operation in Alberta.
Doctors replaced two valves, repaired another and inserted a pacemaker, and expected the girl to begin leading a normal childhood.
But an infection from a dental procedure in the Ukraine caused Oksana to become deathly ill again, and so she returned to Alberta for her latest surgery.
Lead cardiologist Dr. Michael Giuffre says Oksana is a changed girl.
"She is remarkably different. When she first arrived she was in severe heart failure," said Giuffre. "We send her home as a pretty normal-looking 10-year-old girl."
He said she has already tried swimming, skating and riding a bike since her surgery.
Oksana's mother, speaking in Ukrainian, says her daughter would not be alive if not for the latest surgery.
Although Oksana is returning with a good prognosis and a six-month supply of medicine, the girl's mother worries about the quality and availability of medicine in their native country, which she says is not equivalent to Canadian standards.
Oksana will likely need to return to Canada to have her heart valves replaced within five years. She says she's looking forward to the trip, because she will be able to visit with friends she's made here.
Doctors from Calgary and Edmonton donated their time to help Oksana, and a nurse working for Medical Mercy helped raise more than $115,000 to assist with the costs associated with the procedure.