A story of strength, faith and professionalism

Pregnancy in wartime is already a big challenge.

For Tetyana and Mykola, it was their second long-awaited child. They knew that they could wait a long time for the war to end, so they decided to give life now.
However, a routine ultrasound examination brought very disturbing news: Tetiana was diagnosed with a large kidney tumor.

The couple did not give up and turned to the specialists of the National Cancer Institute.

Fortunately, Oleksandr Stakhovsky already had experience in treating pregnant women with a similar pathology. Together with pathologists, the doctors confirmed the diagnosis of carcinoma. But they comforted Tetiana: the tumor was not one of the most aggressive.

The tactics were clear:

To preserve the pregnancy until the natural term of delivery, and simultaneously deliver the baby and remove the tumor. Tetiana trusted the doctors and monitored the size of the tumor together: for four months, the expectant mother came for an ultrasound every month to make sure that the tumor was not growing.

And then the day X came – August 13, 2025.

Specialists at the Lukyanova Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine met the woman in labor and agreed to perform a “double” operation, realizing all the risks.

• At 9:30 am, Tatiana and Mykola’s second daughter was born.
• And at 10:15 a.m., surgeons at the National Cancer Institute, Oleksandr Stakhovsky and Georgiy Kudinov, began a difficult operation, the main purpose of which was to remove the malignant tumor and save the kidney. The localization of the tumor made it difficult to save the organ. But in 40 minutes the tumor was removed and sent to the laboratory for analysis. The surgeons managed to save the young patient’s kidney.
• In the evening of the same day, the happy mother was holding her daughter in her arms.

Today, Tatiana and Mykola’s family is recovering, and we are rejoicing with them over this small but big miracle.

We are sincerely proud of our doctors and colleagues from the IPAH for their courage, professionalism and humanity.
We wish the mother a speedy recovery and the daughter good health and a happy childhood.