07/09/2024 Day of Mourning

07/09/2024 is a day of mourning. But for Ukraine, every day is a day of mourning! Every day we lose our people, children, defenders…

On July 8, 2024, the aggressor country Russia once again launched a mass missile attack on our country. One of the rockets hit the country’s main children’s hospital, Okhmatdyt, Kyiv! The toxicology building, where children were receiving dialysis, was hit, and intensive care, operating, oncology, and other departments were also destroyed. Emergency rescue operations lasted more than a day, as a result of the shelling, 2 people died, more than 50 were injured.

Only recently, we published news about renovations in the Orphan Center, renovation of the premises, decoration of cystic fibrosis wards. We were very happy about this, because in Okhmatdyt, the distribution of the  gene corrector has also started, and the children had the opportunity to undergo examination and treatment in modern, renovated wards.

We have no doubt that everything will be quickly restored, because our people are indomitable, despite any grief! But psychological recovery takes much more time.

At the time of the rocket attack, our patients with cystic fibrosis were on the territory of Okhmatdyt, as well as the president of the All-Ukrainian Association for the Aid of Cystic Fibrosis Voloshyna Larisa. Here’s what they said:

Voloshyna Larisa, Kyiv:

“Today I was scared and hurt more than ever. My younger daughter was operated on, and I was waiting in the post-operative room. Windows, doors and tiles were flying. I was injured, a leg and an arm, the doctors treated the wounds and sewed them up.
The daughter, still under anesthesia after the operation, was carried by the doctors from the upper floor. I am infinitely grateful to all the medical staff, doctors, my friends and fellow psychologists for their support and help.
Now, as a psychologist, I know exactly how adrenaline works and what a person is capable of in an extreme situation. God save us and Ukraine!”

Watch the interview of Larisa Voloshina for the TV channel “1+1”:

Aleksandra Budyakova, Kyiv:

“08.07 was an important day for us.. we waited for this day for a long time, and we prepared for it! We had an appointment for a consultation and to receive an important treatment that would change my son’s life.We left to the hospital, but on the way we were caught by an air alarm. It took our breath away from reading what and how much was flying to Kyiv. But the bridges were blocked, and we decided to go to the hospital, and find shelter there at 11:00 a.m.: 30 we enter the territory and I try to find out where we should go to get to the orphanage. My son and my husband are standing 1.5 m from the shelter in the parking lot.

First a dull explosion, then the whistle of a rocket… I pulled my son with me, and we jumped into the shelter as fast as we could… descending 2 powerful explosions, the light goes out… panic begins, the children are scared and cry… I’m already in in the parking lot, I realized that my husband is not there… a second, 2, 5… no… these seconds are like an eternity… finally, after all the mothers with children, he comes in and says – “I let women and children go ahead, and at the end felt an explosive wave in the back… we were in the parking lot without light and communication, we didn’t know where it all happened… after a while I got up and smelled smoke, many people are calming children, some are crying, and honey the staff is in a state of shock. When we went down after the break, I can’t describe everything that was there… you saw it yourself…”

We are grateful to all the doctors, rescuers and ordinary people who helped to clear the debris, provided the victims with everything they needed, and transported children to other hospitals! You are Heroes! Unbreakable Ukrainians!