Staff at Nottingham hospitals performed life-changing surgery that took 11 hours on a 14-year-old girl affected by the Chernobyl disaster.
Anastaysia Pilut suffered from scoliosis, a debilitating curvature in her spine that if left untreated would have led to her becoming seriously disabled.
After learning about her case from the Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline charity, which brings children from the areas affected by the Chernobyl disaster to England for holidays, consultant Masood Shafafy and his team wanted to help in their own time.
The procedure included the use of metal rods to straighten out her spine, which left Anastaysia 9cm taller.
To say thank you, Anastaysia presented Mr Shafafy with a Russian doll and spent seven weeks recuperating at her host family near Chesterfield before flying back to Belarus last weekend.
She said: “I would like to say thank you to everyone who has helped me from Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline and the hospital.
“They have given me a future.”
Mr Shafafy said he was ‘determined’ to help when he heard about Anastaysia’s story.
Mr Shafafy said: “Anastaysia had two curves in her spine which would have continued to worsen over the course of her lifetime.
“She was in constant pain and by the time she reached 40, it is likely the curve would have been at 90 degrees and would have led to severe disability.”
The Chernobyl disaster saw a catastrophic nuclear power plant explosion which spread contamination across Russia and Europe.
A plume of harmful material including particles known as radioactive isotopes were released by the explosion, which means the immediate area around the plant is still uninhabitable and thousands of square miles outside it are still contaminated.
Dozens of people died in the immediate fall-out of the disaster and thousands more are believed to have fallen ill and died from cancer or other related diseases due to contamination in the years since.
Richard Street MBE, chairman of the Pinxton and East Derbyshire Link of Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline said it was the first time the charity had been involved in helping to fund an operation.
He said: “When we first found out how much it would cost, we thought that it would be impossible to fund but we were determined to find a way around it.
“We were absolutely delighted when Mr Shafafy and his team agreed to waive their fees and perform the surgery for free.
“I cannot find the words to say how grateful we are – everyone at the hospital has been so helpful in making this happen.”
DePuy Synthes, who create medical equipment, makes the device that was used in Anastaysia’s operation and donated it to the charity free of charge.
Representative Peter Butler said: “When we heard about the opportunity to help Anastaysia, we felt compelled to do what we could to make the operation possible.
“We are delighted the medical device we were able to provide to assist with the procedure will make a real difference to the quality of Anastaysia’s life.”
