Polina Kukina

Lovely little Polina is fighting for her life and is asking for help!

 

Polina's parents dreamed of having a daughter, and their happiness was boundless when an ultrasound showed that a baby girl would be born. But the doctor also said something else. The future mother burst into tears. It seemed that the path to happiness was closed for them forever. The little girl-to-be was diagnosed with a complex heart defect.

 

The doctor's words rang in my ears: "Transposition of the main arteries and deformation of interventricular septum". Their meaning was not completely clear. But they sounded like a verdict! The future mother had only one thing on her mind: how to go on living.

 

Doctors suggested terminating the pregnancy, but mum could not imagine even in her darkest nightmares: killing her baby. The decision was made to give birth in Saint Petersburg, in the cardiac centre of the National Medical Research Center named after V.A. Almazov. At the third screening, the diagnosis was unfortunately confirmed, but the parents were ready to fight for their baby to the end. There was a difficult journey ahead, but they promised not to give up for the sake of their daughter and they believed in the best.

 

Polina was born on 25th December 2020 at the Cardio Centre and was immediately taken to the intensive care unit, while her mother was moved to the intensive care ward after the CRC surgery. There, she waited impatiently for the doctor and wanted to believe that it was a mistake and her baby girl was healthy, but there was boundless pain in her heart because no miracle had happened. The diagnosis was extended: Congenital heart defect, Transposition of the great vessels, stenosis of the pulmonary artery and deformity of the interventricular and interatrial septum. The cardiologist added that everything possible had come together in this defect. Tears, resentment and grief clouded my eyes, but I had to pull myself together and believe in the best.

 

On the 4th day of life, the baby had a Rushkind procedure, but it didn't help and the saturation was dropping. On the 10th day, the doctors performed open heart surgery on the baby. Even three days afterwards, Paulie was unable to breathe on her own. The doctors put her into medicated sleep for 3 days. Then little one stepped towards life and started to breathe. But she was not fed for 10 days. The feedings were intravenous, and infection got into her system. Nothing helped. The baby had a blood transfusion, and it was a month of horror in the ICU. It wasn't until two weeks later that the baby's condition became steadily serious. Her mother went to church daily and prayed for her baby girl to survive. She did not see her again until 1.5 months after she was born.

 

Now all she prayed for was to live to 9 months, the next operation. Twice a day the saturation was measured as Paulie cried, her nasolabial triangle turned frighteningly blue, and her skin turned a grey-purple colour. Mum lived in fear for her daughter, which seemed never to end. She lived until she got 9 months old, but it turned out that she couldn't have a radical operation: first Glenn, then Fontaine and only the 3rd surgery would be radical. Mum realised that the baby might not survive such a difficult journey. She remembered how she had almost lost her after the operation.

 

On February 25th, 2022, the family flew to Berlin, and on March 10th, 2022, Pauline underwent her second open-heart surgery at the Heart Centre. But the sadness never left their home. Even the German heart surgeons couldn’t perform a radical operation: the anatomy of the baby's heart did not allow it.

 

The Boston clinic said that Polina was a good candidate for radical surgery. Her mother knew this was the only chance for a healthy heart for Polina, but the family did not have the vast sum of money needed to save their little girl.

 

Polina is a wonderful, smiling and playful girl, it is hard to think that her life will be over if she does not have an operation, but it will. Polinochka is now 1 year and 8 months old. She is very curious, stands on her feet, and tries to run, but she has shortness of breath and gets tired quickly because Polina's saturation level is 84-86%. She is a real survivor, and with your help, she will make it!

 

"Our baby's life has come at a great cost to us. We are looking forward to seeing Polina keep on doing good despite the difficult path she has had. Please help us because we cannot cope with this misfortune without you! Please help us! Our POLYA will live like all the other children if we do not lose this precious chance: the last operation. Please give her a chance to live! In our case, without the surgery, she just won't exist!".

Sincerely, Polina's mother.

 

Help Polina to stay alive!