I run for the sake of the hearts of the kids. Volodymyr Zhovnir

Volodymyr Zhovnir is a Chief Physician of the Scientific Center of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Honored Doctor of Ukraine. In 2011, Volodymyr was awarded the Order of St. George the Winner. Volodymyr – organizer of multiple sports and charity events in Ukraine such as “Run under the Chestnuts”.

"I have devoted over 20 years of my life to salvation of babies, born with different heart diseases. And the same number of years I take part in charity races. My run was always full of sense. The longest distance in 40 km I overcame far in the youth, when I was in army. With great pride for the country I ran the Olympic Torch Relay during Athens Olympics in 2004. And exactly for charity I entered organization of annual “Run Under Chestnuts”. This run in particular helped to do a huge step in the development of Pediatric Heart Surgery. We managed to collect money on unique equipment – the first in Ukraine “Artificial heart” (Apparatus of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), and in 2013 we bought third in country apparatus for supporting blood pressure of patients during operation.

I think that running with the charitable purpose is very useful for personality’s health. It doesn’t only strengthen your heart, it widens it, makes your mind cleaner and your soul deeper. Soon I will be running on the KyivHalfMarathon for the project “Second Wind”. It was initiated by Charity Foundation "Krona" with aim to help to restore very important equipment for salvation of our little patients of our Center.

We often have to face the problem that after successful operation a child isn’t able to breathe by himself due to several problems, like lungs hypertension or trachea liquid accumulation. Doctors in reanimation need to know reasons and conduct special procedures aimed to clear the tracheas and help lungs to open up. A special equipment called Fiber Bronchoscope exists in order to diagnose and cure such problems. It is ultrathin optic fiber with optical equipment that helps to look inside of tiny tracheas and lungs and transmit data on the computer’s monitor.

It is very expensive equipment, but it is able to give children back their ability to breathe and help them to recover from their illness. I set a goal to collect 10 000 UAH on this marathon in order to repair the Fiber Bronchoscope. I invite you to join our team and support the project!".