What We Do

Chernobyl Heart

 
Chernobyl Heart is the name given to a previously unheard-of condition. Chernobyl Heart occurs where caesium-137 attacks the heart and causes heart dysfunction. This heart dysfunction leads to severe heart damage, even heart attacks and strokes.

When Adi Roche first visited the Children’s Hospital in Gomel in 1994, she was shocked by the number of children suffering from this condition due to their exposure to radiation following the nuclear explosion in 1986 and although the doctors were highly qualified and dedicated to their patients the grim reality of little medicine, poor diagnostic equipment and a continual increase in the number of patients meant that many children suffering from Chernobyl Heart were facing extremely short life-spans.

Today in Belarus over 7000 children await treatment for cardiac conditions that would be practically routine matters in the United States or Europe. The country's health services are already stretched to breaking point, and the waiting list grows by an estimated 800 to 1000 children every year. Without intervention, most of the children will die within three to five years. Through the Cardiac Programme CCPI are able to save 25 - 30 children on each of the trips. Because the cardiac surgeons travel to the region to perform the surgeries, CCPI are able to reach and save many more lives and provide much needed training to local physicians.