Skip to main content

As WAEH we are there to help….

2022-04-06 10:13:38

Olena Kurylo was blinded in her right eye when a missile destroyed her apartment block in the opening hours of Russia’s brutal invasion last month. […] She was in danger of developing a fatal infection from her wounds. It was clear that Olena needed urgent surgery – but first she had to escape what had become a deadly and complex battlefield.

The Mail on Sunday contacted @Moorfields Eye Hospital and the Moorfields Eye Hospital contacted the World Association of Eye Hospitals (WAEH). Dr Tanya Lushchyk, a Dutch-Ukrainian ophthalmologist at the Rotterdam Eye Hospital (@oogziekenhuis), offered help and carried out a telephone consultation with Olena. Lushchyk concluded that large pieces of glass remained lodged in Olena’s eye and that she had suffered bleeding and possibly the detachment of her retina. 

Olena’s salvation came in the form of a lorry driver who was delivering supplies in the area. ‘He smuggled me into Kharkiv through the forest,’ Olena said. ‘I spent the journey curled into a ball on the front seat to hide.’ Four days later Olena and her daughter boarded a 20-hour train from Dnipro to Lviv. ‘It was crammed,’ she said. ‘I didn’t sleep for the whole time. I was one of seven people sitting in a four-seater carriage, with a 30kg dog in the middle. But everyone comforted one another

One week ago Olena has been operated in Poland. Despite knowing she needed emergency care, Olena believed that it would be a simple procedure. But during the appointment, the expert broke the news that her condition was more serious. ‘She has a penetrating trauma of the eyeball, a detached retina and a haemorrhage.’ But doctors say there is a chance Olena could restore her vision. 

Olena hopes to return to her beloved country soon. She said: ‘Every Ukrainian civilian and volunteer, please do everything possible for Ukraine to remain a free and independent country. If Ukraine wins, the whole world will win, the whole of humankind will.’

#WAEH #eyehospital #ophthalmology #OlenaKurylo

More news

WAEH July Newsletter

You do not want to miss this exciting meeting! From October the 7th till October the 11th we will visit the Fondation Asile des aveugles, Hôpital ophtalmique Jules-Gonin in Lausanne, […]

Management Training and Systems Development for Eye Hospital Administrators/Managers

7th Aug – 5th Sep, 2025 LAICO, Madurai.

Celebrating LVPEI at ARVO 2025

One of the world’s premier eye research conferences, the Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), concluded this month at Salt Lake City, USA. At a glittering […]

These contact lenses give people infrared vision — even with their eyes shut

Sci-fi-style technology uses nanoparticles to convert infrared light into visible light that humans can see. Humans have a new way of seeing infrared light, without the need for clunky night-vision […]

Call for Abstracts – deadline coming up

The 19th Annual Meeting of the WAEH is approaching! You do not want to miss this exciting meeting!   We will be talking about: Meet & network with our global […]