UCC nursing student braves war in Ukraine to operate on babies

25 Apr 2024

Twenty-one year-old Lena Guénebaut-Cudmore, a first-year nursing student at School of Nursing & Midwifery UCC braved war and the threat of nuclear disaster to help save the lives of babies in Ukraine.

Lena has just returned from Lviv where she volunteered to be part of the latest Chernobyl Children International- funded cardiac surgical mission, which performed life-saving cardiac surgery on babies born with congenital heart defects, such as the deadly Chernobyl Heart.

The team, which travelled despite an increase in deliberate Russian drone attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility, was based at the last remaining hospital in Ukraine with the ability to safely conduct complex paediatric cardiac surgery.

Lena endured the risks of the war in Ukraine to perform surgeries on children. Picture: Chernobyl Children International 

Lena who is interviewed in The Irish Examiner today told how they worked 12-hour shifts, six days a week,”.

“I was wrecked, but it was a most amazing experience. It was such a joy to see the babies reunited with their parents”.

Lena said: “you can see the signs of war everywhere, there were air-raid sirens at night, the main buildings and statues are covered up with metal grates, they have sandbags up to protect a lot of buildings, but people were basically going about their daily routines”.

The hospital she said had the basics and made do with what they had, “but they didn’t have access to a lot of the drugs that we would use, so they have begun making their own versions”.

Welcome back Lena we are very proud of you.