Patch for Antoshka's heart

Anton is blue-eyed, restless, curious blonde 2-year-old beautiful boy. The perfect baby. But... Anton has one defect – a heart disease. In a small moto, there is a hole in the size of almost a centimeter through which blood from the left atrium is thrown and overloading the right. This hole needs to be closed as soon as possible until the irreversible changes in the baby's body have not started.

For the first time, parents heard about Anton's problem when he was 5 months when the pediatrician noticed noises in the heart and prescribed the ultrasound. The cardio surgeon left no hope for a miracle – a diagnosis "defect in the anterolateral septum" – sounded like a verdict. In the Center for Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery (Kyiv) parents were reassured – the child will live long and happy but need to undergo surgery.

There are 2 types of surgical treatment for this defect. The first one is conducted under deep anesthesia, with a cut of the chest and with the use of donor blood. The child is connected to a device that replaces the heart and lungs. After that, the heart is cleaned of blood, and the doctor removes the defect. It's not so hard to fix a hole in the heart but to get to it. Anesthesia, connection, an incision is a long and rather traumatic process. The second kind – endovascular – is carried out without a cut of the sternum, with a superficial anesthesia, the baby does not even have time to understand what is happening. One shot and he will sleep in his mom's arms and will wake up already in the ward, only the leg will be tucked. The tiny device – the occluder – is carried through the femoral artery directly to the heart, and, like an umbrella, closes the hole. And the heart will never bother Anton.

It sounds like a fantasy, but this technology is already available in our country. There is only one challenge – the high cost of the "patch". Unfortunately, the family fled from the horrors of war, who was left everything in the hometown, and cannot afford such "luxury". Yes, and only few in our country, even permanently living in a peaceful territory, can independently pay a bill that is approaching 100 000 UAH. But all together, we can give the child a painless surgery. Anton's heart hopes for you!

Name: Zanoziuk Anton, 05.04.2016

City: Kharkiv

Diagnosis: secondary atrial septal defect