Giving Our Hearts to Cyprus

When Cyprus resident Katerina Giannakoudaki went to Nicosia Hospital to deliver her baby, she experienced a severe cardiovascular episode. Doctors at Nicosia knew she would die within a day or two unless she was hooked up to an ECMO machine, which pumps and oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body, allowing the heart and lungs to rest. The only problem was that Cyprus did not have such a machine. An urgent call went out to Sheba, which has a unique medical relationship with Cyprus. Sheba’s cardiovascular team at the Olga and Lev Leviev Heart Center was ready to provide assistance. Within hours, the team boarded a special plane with an ECMO machine and flew to Cyprus. After stabilizing Katerina’s condition, the team then flew her back to Sheba. In the aftermath of surgery and several weeks of post-op cardiovascular rehab regimen, Katerina was deemed well enough to return home for further treatments and was reunited with her newborn child.