Big-hearted Brits have raised nearly £13,000 to help seriously-ill Ukrainian refugees on the transplant register get access to life-saving dialysis and medication.
Lynne Holt, a retired transplant coordinator at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, started the fundraiser after becoming concerned for families in desperate need of dialysis fleeing the worn-torn country.
Among her supporters are the UK's first-ever heart transplant baby Kaylee Davidson-Olley and her mum Carol, who says every penny helps “transplant patients fleeing war”.
Lynne's fundraiser has helped more than 15 families so far, mainly in Romania, after she began working with the European Transplant and Dialysis Federation and the wider transplant community to help refugees access medications, dialysis, accommodation, transport, phone cards, food and clothes.
The donations have helped 36-year-old Elena Bucaci, who arrived “frightened and very tired” in Poznan, Poland, get accommodation and dialysis. She also managed to book flights to Romania to reach friends there.
They have also helped 28-year-old Maxim Shulga, who arrived in Poland with his six-year-old daughter Alisa.
Alisa proudly made a sign saying 'thank you' to Lynne and her colleagues after her dad managed to access dialysis.
What do you think? Have your say in the comments below...
The team has also helped a man who had to cross the River Danube and queue for ten hours to get into Romania, before returning to Ukraine and then crossing the border into Poland, without access to dialysis or medication the entire time.
UK donations have assisted a mum-of-five waiting for a lung transplant in Lviv, western Ukraine, whose husband is fighting in the war. Within 14 hours, she arrived in Poland at the Silesian Centre for Heart Diseases in Zabrze and received dialysis overnight.
They've also helped 55-year-old Eleni Salyupa, who travelled to the Black Sea with her daughter, access dialysis.
And a wheelchair-bound woman in need of oxygen, who travelled 1,300km through the night to Poland, has eventually received dialysis thanks to the fund.
Meanwhile, a lung transplant patient arrived in Romania needing a life-saving drug not licensed in the country - but through Lynne’s network she managed to access and pay for her medication from a Portuguese shipment and the drug company is now considering supplying the drug off-licence on humanitarian grounds.
Lynne said: "I was so moved by the stories from Ukraine, I knew I needed to use my expertise to help in some way.
"These stories are just a tiny snapshot of the tragedy of the war, but hopefully this can help some of the most sick and vulnerable people in some way.
"You can't imagine what these people have gone through and the journeys they have had to take - when you're sick and ill, not knowing when you will next receive the treatment you need, it's unbearable.
“None of us sitting in our warm houses eating good food can imagine what these families are experiencing and the transplant community also cannot imagine being without transplant care, medications and dialysis.”
Amali Teodorescu, a volunteer at the Romanian Transplant Association, said: “This solidarity warms my soul and gives me energy in my work to help refugees. "Refugees continue to come and many remain in our countries. They need accommodation, food, medical care, medicine and much more.”
To find out more or to support the campaign, click here.
