'The risk was worth taking,' says Adi Roche as surgeons save lives of 30 children in Ukraine

Chernobyl Children International decided to bring forward by five months its mission to perform the operations for a range of heart defects, including ‘Chernobyl heart’

One-month-old Daria after surgery with her mother. Daria is one of the 30 children in Ukraine who have been saved by surgeons who performed cardiac surgery recently despite the imminent threat of war in the region.

Irish charity boss Adi Roche says sending a surgical team into Ukraine despite the looming threat of invasion and war was worth the risk because the lives of 30 children have been saved.

Ms Roche, the founder and voluntary CEO of Chernobyl Children International (CCI), confirmed that the CCI-funded cardiac surgical team left Ukraine within the last 24 hours following the successful conclusion of their latest life-saving cardiac surgery mission.