Mark KroekerPRESS RELEASE
LOS ANGELES, October 3, 2023: Much-needed medical equipment is being put to good use in Ukraine thanks to an old wartime border crossing technique that placed the equipment – a pair of highly valuable pediatric surgical retractors – into the hands of Kiev-based surgeons while they were at an organ-transplant conference abroad.
The two retractors – donated by the Thompson Surgical Instrument Company – were at the top of the list of essential tools needed by the children’s transplant team at Okhmatdyt Hospital in Kiev, Ukraine. They were initially shipped directly to Kiev by the World Children’s Transplant Fund (WCTF) but were stuck in customs, despite countless appeals, and returned to the DHL shipper in California.
Learning that two Kiev surgeons were invited to attend a transplant congress in Athens, the WCTF team developed a plan to get the retractors directly into the hands of the doctors. WCTF’s Program Director, Marilee Dahl, personally flew the retractors to the surgeons while they were in Athens. Armed with a letter clearly indicating the humanitarian nature of the tools in their baggage, the surgeons then returned from Greece to Poland and were able to make a successful crossing by car into Ukraine.
A few days after their return, the retractors were making an impact: They were used in a lifesaving liver transplant surgery on Alice, a six-month-old infant. This surgery was conducted and completed while air-raid alarms were directing all hospital staff to the basement for shelter. Two days later the retractors were used in another liver transplant surgery, this one for a six-month-old boy named Danylo. Surgery photos are available.
“We were thrilled that this old-school wartime border crossing strategy actually worked,” said Mark Kroeker, WCTF’s founder. “These retractors, which were so generously donated by Thomson Surgical to save kids in Ukraine, are already being put to good use by talented Kiev surgeons.”
The retractors will go a long way toward helping the Ukrainian surgeons to continue their heroic efforts in the midst of a war that threatens the lives of staff and patients alike. There is still a great need for basic medical equipment in Ukraine. “We’ll continue to do what we can in the interest of helping to save kids who are facing organ failure in Ukraine and wherever we are needed,” Kroeker added. “All of us can make a difference if we try.”
Since it was launched 35 years ago, WCTF has been helping children and transplant surgeons around the world, in such countries as Argentina, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Philippines Kazakhstan and Armenia. Hundreds of children are alive today because of the relentless efforts of the WCTF. Interviews and Photos or Videos: To request an interview with the Ukrainian doctors or with WCTF, contact Marilee Dahl at 949-842-2286 or Marilee.Dahl@wctf.org.