If any person gets ill, it is very difficult to travel to the controlled territories of Ukraine to get treatment or a surgery. I had preinfarction angina when I was brought to the hospital in Donetsk from Makiivka. I was about to have a cardiac pacemaker to be inserted in the heart, but it cost UAH 20,000. Of course, I would not have made it to raise this amount myself.
I didn't get a free device as part of the state program, because the state programs don't work in the uncontrolled territories of Ukraine. Officials suggested that I go to Kyiv to undergo a surgery. But I didn't have a pass to go to the controlled territories. Plus, my condition was very bad. I could not get out of bed.
No matter where I went, they couldn't help me. I heard about the Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center on TV. The Center quickly purchased a cardiac pacemaker, but transporting it to Donetsk was not easy. Friends who came to Mariupol and took the pacemaker and delivered it to Donetsk helped us out.