When it seemed impossible, Ukrainian medics launched a helicopter and rescued a teenager

17-year-old Maksym from Rivne region, who recently received a donor heart transplant, is already recovering after the operation and making plans for the future. This was reported on 18 May 2026 by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

The young man was born with a complex congenital heart defect – tetralogy of Fallot. This is a condition in which the heart has four anatomical abnormalities at once. At the age of one year and two months the boy underwent surgery, after which his heart restored its rhythm, and Maksym was able to start school and grow up alongside his peers. But after a few years the disease showed itself again. Doctors assume a severe infectious disease may have been a trigger for the heart. The past years were especially difficult for the boy: he had trouble breathing and walking, swelling appeared, and his heart enlarged so much that doctors concluded – the only chance for survival might be transplantation.

At the beginning of May, on a Sunday evening, the family received the call they had been waiting for: a donor heart had been found for Maksym. In Vinnytsia, after a stroke, one patient was diagnosed with brain death. His relatives consented to posthumous donation, and that decision gave a chance at life to several people at once. The Unified State Transplantation Information System determined that Maksym is immunologically compatible with the donor and can receive this heart. While the boy and his mother were urgently traveling to Kyiv, a team from the National Scientific Center of Cardiovascular Surgery and Hereditary Pathology named after M.M. Amosov went to the Vinnytsia region. To ensure the donor heart could be delivered to the operating room in the capital on time, the medics appealed for help to the National Police of Ukraine. Despite the war, a helicopter was deployed for this.

“It was difficult, but we had to make it in time. We combined the efforts of several structures, many people – and did it. Thanks to the National Police of Ukraine. I am also grateful to colleagues from the Heart Institute, who joined our transplant team and together performed the transplant. All for the patient,” – said the director of the National Scientific Center of Cardiovascular Surgery and Hereditary Pathology named after M.M. Amosov, Vasyl Lazoryshynets.

After the operation Maksym was already moved from intensive care to a regular ward. His indicators stabilized, the boy is gradually recovering and says he feels much better. Ahead of him is a return to studies and new plans. Maksym wants to finish school online this year, enter university and become a programmer.

The Ministry of Health of Ukraine expressed condolences to the family of the deceased donor and thanked them for the difficult but important decision. It was the consent to posthumous donation that gave a chance at life to Maksym and other patients.

The National Scientific Center of Cardiovascular Surgery and Hereditary Pathology named after M.M. Amosov is one of eight institutions in Ukraine where heart transplants are performed. According to the Ministry of Health, in 2026 all such institutions have already performed 41 heart transplants, of which three were for children.

Earlier we wrote:

• In Kyiv, 13-year-old Ivan posthumously saved four lives through donation
• The death of one person saved four: unique transplants were performed overnight in Ukraine
• Doctors saved the lives of three patients thanks to the donor family’s decision
• “Corridor of honor” and a new life for patients: in Mykolaiv they carried out a multi-organ donor harvest for the first time
• The death of a 4-year-old girl became a rescue: in Kyiv three children were saved thanks to donation