A six-year-old girl lives with her heart outside of her chest. She was born with the condition and is now asking the community to help give her life-saving surgery, and the community is responding, NBC Miami reports.
The news channel featured a video on Facebook of Virsaviya Borun-Goncharova, showing the young girl in a hospital bed. Virsaviya was born with a condition called Pantalogy of Cantrell, a condition where her heart grew outside of her chest.
“My mom always told me that she loves my heart and I really like it,” Virsaviya said.
We're introducing you to this sweet girl from Russia, who now lives in South Florida. She was born with her heart…
Posted by NBC 6 South Florida on Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Her single mother, Dari Borun, immigrated from Russia to the United States after doctors there were unable to treat her daughter’s condition. She found a doctor in Boston who can perform the surgery to fix Virsaviya’s condition. However, due to her high blood pressure and pulmonary arteries she cannot get the surgery yet. It may be a few years before she is well enough to get it. In the meantime, Dari and Virsaviya moved to Hollywood, Florida to be in a warmer climate for Virsaviya’s health.
They have set up a fundraising page, which has raised over $20,000 since Virsaviya’s story first aired. An anonymous donor also reached out to NBC 6, offering to cover the remainder of Virsaviya’s goal.
“I don’t have a family here. It’s just me and Virsaviya, but now I feel like I have a family because a lot of people just caring about us,” Dari said. “They love us. They want to help.”
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