When the Russia-Ukraine war escalated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Shawn Diamond, M.D., a plastic surgeon at Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso, prepared to travel.

A specialist in hand and microsurgery, Dr. Diamond also serves as an assistant professor in the Foster School of Medicine’s Department of Surgery. He volunteers with Doctors Collaborating to Help Children, a Boston-based organization that’s been caring for Ukrainian children with severe burn injuries since 2010.

With the full-scale invasion underway, Dr. Diamond and his fellow volunteer doctors knew children in Ukraine would, sadly, need their expertise more than ever.

For safety and logistical reasons, Dr. Diamond and his colleagues decided against entering Ukraine. They agreed their best bet was Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine. A United States ally and member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Poland has served as a safe haven for Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.

In mid-May of 2023, the group arrived in Lublin, Poland, a city within practical reach of Ukrainian patients and their families, who traveled by train and bus.

The surgeons quickly went to work. They got to know their patients, ranging from age 2 to 23, and made them feel at ease.

“These kids were nervous about their trips to Poland and about a big week ahead: surgery, bandages and recovery, but they were ready,” Dr. Diamond said. Eventually, the patients and their families settled into a routine.

“For them, it was like a surgical summer camp. The kids and their parents by the end of the week were relaxed, playing games, running, skipping – even while in bandages or on crutches,” Dr. Diamond said.

Over the course of a week, Dr. Diamond and his colleagues cared for the children, some with burn injuries. Others were treated for congenital anomalies or injuries that had been neglected due to difficulty finding care in Ukraine.

“In total, we treated over 20 young patients and performed over 60 different types of surgeries. Some patients had surgery on multiple limbs or parts of their bodies,” Dr. Diamond said.

The smiles after successful care were an unforgettable reward for the surgeons.

“The kids and their parents were joyous in the end. They were happy and had a glimmer of hope for the first time in many months,” Dr. Diamond said.

Now back in the U.S., Dr. Diamond said he and his colleagues continue to provide long-distance follow-up care for their patients on the other side of the world.

If called upon again, he’s prepared to travel to deliver life-changing care to youngsters anywhere in the world.

“Through no fault of their own, they sit squarely in the middle of a war they did not choose,” Dr. Diamond said of children who are victims of war. “For as long as there are wars, be it Ukraine, Russia, Palestine and Israel, we are all responsible for the children, every one of them.”

Artem Sokolov, 11, of Kharkiv, Ukraine, left, was injured in a cluster bomb blast that left him in a coma for three months and with severe nerve damage in his left arm. In May 2023, he was screened by Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso plastic surgeon Dr. Shawn Diamond (standing) and Dr. Gennadiy Fuzalylov (seated, middle,) a pediatric anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and founder of Doctors Collaborating to Help Children. Photo by Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press.