On Friday, May 13, 2016,  LCCF of “Sister Dalila” together with the PHA Europe, NGO “SAMI”, Lviv city center of social services for families, children and youth, “Children’s Planet” and hotel “Walter” held 5th World PH Day during a social festival “Lutin”. Juice partner of 5th World PH Day was “Galicia”. The event took place at “Gorikhovyi Hai” park: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1755007511452667&set=pcb.1755030908116994&type=3&theater.

This event was attended by PH patients and their families from all over Ukraine. The international guest also arrived. It was the member of PHA Europe, coordinator of international projects – Juan Fuertes. The  deputy chief doctor of the Lviv Regional Hospital – Van Doeveren N.R., doctor – Semen H.O., the only transplant coordinator in Ukraine, anesthesiologist – Ivan Pisarenko and social workers of Frankivsk district also came to celebrate WPHD.

The event was aimed at uniting patients, their families, physicians and social workers to draw public, government officials and deputies attention to issues of the pulmonary hypertension and the right for life for PH patients.

Before the opening ceremony, all participants were blessed by the priest.

Kulish Oksana, Andriy Porodko, Juan Fuertes, Yuri Pidlisny (deputy governor of Lviv region) and the Director of “Miss Lviv 2016”  opened the 5th WPHD.

All participants were invited to participate in the Campaign “Cork for Life”, namely to come to the tent with a large number of previously collected plastic corks and sort them by colors (their cost is bigger when they are sorted by color). Thus, everyone could contribute to saving patients with pulmonary hypertension because the more money recycling company will transfer for the corks, the more medicines or medical equipment we can buy for patients.

A call to action was actively supported by children, who rushed to the mountain of corks with a smile and began to sort them, while realizing that there are kids-patients with pulmonary hypertension, who need their help.

The event continued with children performance in the cinema center, including the spectacular performance of the Children’s Television Theatre “Yurashky”, who amazed the audience with their singing and synchronous movements. Auditorium was filled with joy and happiness.

The planned marathon “Get Breathless for PH” also took place!!! It was amazing. Lots of children, Andrew Porodko, Yuri Fedechko (the host), the members of the contest “Miss Lviv 2016” ran around the park to support PH patients, wearing the symbolic shirts for PH Day 2016 and holding symbolic flags. Each felt a shortness of breath, that patients with pulmonary hypertension feel every day . It wasn’t just a marathon, but a call to officials, deputies of all levels to open their eyes to the problems of this disease.

The marathon ended with a concert of Viktor Vinnik (band “Mary”) and the band “Carbon”, who were dressed in T-shirts with PH Day symbol and showed their solidarity with PH patients. In between performances the host Yuri Fedechko repeatedly said words of support to patients with pulmonary hypertension.

The event resulted to lots of achievements. After all,  on the same day we managed to transfer the collected plastic corks to the recycling company. From the cinema stage the representative of “Sister Dalila” and PH URDA told, that there were about 300 kg for which we got 3000 UAH to purchase certain medicines for PH patients.

In the evening the participants of WPHD had friendly dinner. Oksana Kulish said her words of gratitude to all the organizers of the event, that is so important for the “Sister Dalila”. Then we looked at the drawings “Show the real PH” and their authors were able to explain in detail and show, how they see the disease.

Worth of mentioning, that most pictures were optimistic. It makes us really happy, as it’s the key to a decent confrontation to pulmonary hypertension. The vocalist of the band “Wild Heart” and a member of the “Voice 2016” – Roman Kozak performed his songs for the guests. The room was filled with warm atmosphere. The kids were dancing, jumping, playing around and actively signing the karaoke. The dinner was finished late at night, no one wanted to go home, as all of us were united by the same problem.

The next day, Saturday, patients again gathered together in the city center near the fountain. Everyone felt light and happy atmosphere around. We talked, laughed, spoke about our memories… We also had an interesting conversation on how to overcome certain symptoms of pulmonary hypertension, exchanged important information and experience. Finally it was time to say goodbye, and our guests went to a different places: some to meet with relatives, while others took their children on the tour. We believe our meeting on the WPHD brought warmth, hope and faith in each heart.

We sincerely thank PHA Europe, Lviv city center of social services for families, children and youth, “Children’s Planet”, “Galicia”, hotel “Walter”, Andrew Porodko, Yuri Fedechko and Roman Kozak for holding the 5th World Pulmonary Hypertension Day.