I survived to serve people

My name is Artyom Granovskiy and it's a Miracle that I'm alive.

I was born in 1988 in Almaty (former capital city of Kazakhstan in Soviet Union). The doctors discovered that I had 8 heart defects. The Doctors said that I would never survive past a couple months and any kind of surgery. They told my parents, to leave me in the hospital to die and move on with their lives. My parents couldn't just leave me in the hospital to die alone, so they took me home.

After 5 months I received my first surgery in A.N. Bakulev National Medical Research Center of Cardiovascular Surgery in Moscow. That operation only extended my life for a few years because the Doctors in Russia and USSR didn’t have the equipment and experience to perform such a complex operation.

My family received rejections from hospitals all over the world. Hospitals in Germany, Israel, as well as the Red Cross organization and WHO rejected to treat me. My condition was simply too complex. Many of them couldn’t understand how I was still breathing. I had severe hypoxia (lack of oxygen) due to poor blood circulation but my parents didn’t give up on me.

My grandfather who was a doctor and a pastor of Seventh Day Adventist Church in Ukraine, told my story to a pastor from L.A. Jim Gilley. Pastor Gilley sent my medical documents to Loma Linda University Medical Center, and helped to organize everything for the surgery. People from Seventh Day Adventist Church helped to pay for the operation. I received so much love and support from people I have never met. There I had my second operation that successfully fixed my heart problems. I am now 30 years old and words cannot express my gratitude and I will be forever grateful to those who helped me.

I would not be alive, if it wasn't for good doctors like Dr. Leonard L. Bailey, and other wonderful doctors and nurses who dedicate their lives to medicine. These people study hard, worked hard and sacrificed many things in life, so that they could help and heal others.

Even though I was 6 years old back then, I made a firm decision to become a doctor so that I could help others just like those doctors helped me. I received a Bachelor Degree in Nursing Science from Assumption University Bangkok, Thailand. I specialized in education for sport science as well as prevention and treatment of chronic pain. For the past 8 years I was working as a medical coordinator, organizing treatments and surgeries to people from around the world.

I've also provided more than 5000 free consultations, given health seminars in churches in Ukraine and educated children and teenagers on first aid, personal hygiene and importance of physical education. I've always been there for the people in need and never asked money. But now I’m facing a very difficult situation myself and I'm hoping that you can help.

I’m a first year medical student in Masaryk University, Brno. I want to become a doctor so that I can continue helping people. I was supposed to get help from my friend but he lost his business and could only help me with the first semester tuition. In a couple of months I have to pay for the second semester and right now I don’t even have money to cover living expenses. I'll be very grateful for your help and support.

I thank you for reading my story and invite you to contribute. May God bless you.