9 surgeries to save leg: Soldier injured in battles for Bakhmut undergoes rehabilitation in Lviv

33-year-old Pavlo Patseruk, who was seriously injured in Bakhmut, is undergoing rehabilitation in Lviv.

The soldier was at risk of limb amputation after a shrapnel wound, but after nine surgeries and four months of struggle, doctors managed to save his leg, the First Medical Association of Lviv says.

Pavlo, a resident of Kryvyi Rih and father of two children, had no military service experience before the full-scale war. However, he went to the military enlistment office to stand up for the defence of his native land after 24 February 2022. After only two weeks and five attempts to reach the front, the man was accepted into the army.

On the front line, Pavlo received the alias of Pakha. Six months later, the soldier was awarded the rank of Junior Lieutenant, after which he became the commander of a mechanised platoon.

Pavlo was injured during a mortar attack at the height of the fighting for Bakhmut early in March. 

Quote: "One of the mortar bombs exploded very close by. The commander [Pavlo – ed.] continued to run for a few seconds in an adrenaline rush, and then he felt hellish pain, looked at his legs, and they were all covered in blood. He put two tourniquets on himself and ran to the nearest house," doctors tell the story of the military.

At the same time, the wounded Pavlo  was evacuated to the nearest stabilisation point, where doctors were able to stop the bleeding.

In Novomoskovsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, doctors resuscitated the defender, after which he was sent to Lviv, and then to Chernivtsi. Pavlo was accompanied by his wife Nadiia during the treatment.

Now the soldier is in Lviv at the Unbroken centre, where surgeons managed to save Pavel's right leg from amputation.

Quote: "A pressure ulcer formed on his foot, so the soldier could not feel his leg. We did everything possible to save the limb: we opposed inflammatory processes, restored normal blood supply and sensitivity. To do this, we made prosthetic arteries and veins and transplanted the tibial nerve. After four months of struggle, the limb was successfully saved," the doctors say.

Today, Pavlo can already walk with one crutch, but his rehabilitation continues.

Background: 34-year-old injured serviceman Serhii Yevtushenko, who stepped on a Russian mine in June of this year and lost his foot, is undergoing rehabilitation in Lviv.

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