For the first time in Ukraine, doctors performed awake brain surgery on a child — the First Medical Association of Lviv

Doctors explain that the boy had to be woken up during the tumour removal to control his speech and movements and not to damage the brain areas involved with them. 

"During the most important part of the operation — removing the tumour — the doctors managed to wake Maksym up. This was necessary to control his speech and movements and not to damage the brain areas involved with them," the doctors say. 

The operation lasted seven hours. 

The 15-year-old Maksym from Ternopil has suffered severe epileptic seizures since he was eight due to a brain tumour. In recent years, he found it difficult to speak and remember things as the tumour grew and began to put pressure on the areas of the brain involved with speech and movement. 

"The boy who used to dance before the seizures and dreamed of becoming a champion could no longer even run. Laughter or tears could also trigger a seizure. Maksym's childhood was spent with strict restrictions, under the constant supervision of his mother, who was watching her son around the clock and feared for his life," the statement says.