First Lady Visits Young Heroes

In a touching visit on World Organ Donation and Transplantation Day, Olena Zelenska, the First Lady of Ukraine, met with young patients and their families at the children’s hospital “Okhmatdyt” in Kyiv, highlighting the resilience of patients and medical staff amid challenging conditions.

During her visit on October 17, 2025, Zelenska engaged with several families, including the Yaremenkos whose young son, Maksym, underwent Ukraine’s first incompatible liver transplant at just four months old due to severe liver damage. Another poignant story came from Polina Kostrytsia’s family, affected by the ongoing conflict with Russia; Polina, suffering from liver cirrhosis, relied on her brother for a life-saving transplant amidst the dire circumstances of war.

The First Lady commended the transplantation team, who have not only received training globally—from Japan to the USA and South Korea—but have also adapted to performing surgeries under extreme conditions such as shelling and power outages. Zelenska underscored the profound humanity in organ donation, describing it as the ultimate act of giving, where “a person literally saves another by giving a part of themselves.”

The visit also celebrated the growing success of Ukraine’s transplant program, which has seen a significant increase in the number of procedures, with over 450 transplants conducted this year alone, compared to just over 370 in the previous year. This progress is partly due to international collaborations, like the one with Warsaw’s Children’s Memorial Health Institute, which was formalized with a Memorandum of Understanding in 2023.

Zelenska’s visit not only brought to light individual stories of courage and survival but also emphasized the broader importance of organ donation and the remarkable advances in Ukrainian healthcare, even in the face of adversity.