She covered her son with her own body: a woman with a missile fragment in her spine has been saved in Lviv

DIANA KRECHETOVA – TUESDAY, 26 JULY 2022

Doctors in Lviv have stabilised the condition of a woman who covered her son with her own body during a Russian missile attack and suffered a shrapnel wound to her spine.

Source: First Medical Union of Lviv

On that unlucky day, 30-year-old Yulia was in the yard of her house in the town of Orihiv, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Her 8-year old son Dmytro asked her to help him ride on his skateboard. Although Yulia heard no warning sirens, suddenly there was an explosion.

Yulia covered her son with her own body and suffered a shrapnel wound to her spine.

30-year-old Yulia suffered a shrapnel wound saving her son from a missile attack

"The young mother fell to the ground and felt that she couldn’t move her legs. A fragment of the missile was lodged in her back. Her husband was nearby; he wasn’t injured, and despite the threat of another missile attack, he managed to take his wounded wife to a hospital in Zaporizhzhia", doctors said.

Yulia is now completely paralysed from the waist down. Her condition was very serious when she arrived at the hospital, because the fragment of the Russian missile had damaged her spine and lung and was still in her liver.

Yulia is now learning to use a wheelchair and cope with daily tasks

Doctors removed the fragment from the spinal canal, stopped the bleeding and stabilised Yulia’s condition. She was then evacuated to Lviv.

"Here Yulia was treated by specialists from three hospital departments: emergency, neurosurgery and surgery. Liquid was drained from the pleural cavity of her lungs. After that her condition was stabilised and her wounds healed", reports the First Medical Union of Lviv.

Doctors have managed to stabilise Yulia’s condition. She is now undergoing rehabilitation.

All photos by the First Medical Union of Lviv

Yulia is now in the physical rehabilitation department, where she is learning to use a wheelchair and cope with daily tasks.

"She doesn’t know whether her house is still standing, but she knows for sure that she wants to hug her husband and son again. They’re in Zaporizhzhia right now", doctors said.

Previously: An Italian surgeon has saved the life of a boy who was injured during a missile attack in Kramatorsk. The surgeon covered the boy’s wounds with artificial skin.