The fire affected 26% of the body of 8-year-old Nastya from Vinnytsia, when she was playing by the fire. The girl was saved by burn surgeons from two countries at once – Ukraine and Switzerland.
Nastya was playing with friends near the house. She stood by the fire. The flame from the gasoline, which the children poured into the fire, instantly spread to the girl’s clothes and burned her legs. The fire affected 26% of Nastya’s body. At the same time, most of the burns were deep.
First aid was given to the girl in Vinnytsia, and then she was transported to Lviv – to the burn department of the Saint Nicholas Children’s Hospital, which is the largest in the western regions of Ukraine. Here, burn surgeons immediately began to operate on Nastusya.
Surgeons cut out the dead tissue and installed a vac system on the affected areas. This is a special device that, with the help of negative pressure, extracts secretions from the wound, dries it and prevents bacteria from multiplying. Due to the severity of the burns and the lack of necessary conditions and equipment for further fighting for the life and health of the child, the doctors were forced to send the little patient abroad to one of the largest burn centers in Switzerland – KINDERSPITAL Zürich. This children’s hospital always receives the most severe Ukrainian children with thermal injuries.
Lviv burn surgeon Lesya Strelka accompanied Nastusya to Zurich. There, the doctor, together with her Swiss colleagues, continued to operate on her patient. Transplanted on the girl’s wounds first donor skin, and then her own skin.
Now the wounds are already healing, the skin has taken root perfectly, and Nastya already feels much better. Swiss specialists continue to look after her. The specialists of Kinderspital Zürich plan to start a fruitful cooperation with the doctors of St. Nicholas Children’s Hospital. After all, they dream that one day the medical system of our country could treat children with the most severe burns at home, in Ukraine.