He survived leg amputation and two strokes: story of Ukrainian defender who nearly died saving his fellow soldier – Photo
A Ukrainian soldier who had lost his right leg in the war, received multiple severe injuries of the left lower body, and had two strokes managed to stand up on his left leg for the first time in 14 months.
Source: Nezlamni (Invincible) centre
Details: Volodymyr Kaida, a 38-year-old man from the city of Shakhtarsk in Donetsk Oblast, moved to the city of Mykolaiv in the south of Ukraine in 2014 and then decided to join the Navy and signed an annual contract.
In 2022 Volodymyr was mobilised. He served in the 79th Separate Air Assault Brigade and got severely injured on the Donetsk front.
Quote from Nezlamni Centre: "One of the projectiles detonated near his fellow soldier. Volodymyr rushed to help him right at the moment of the next strike. His fellow soldier died. Mine fragments shattered Volodymyr’s pelvis and both lower limbs."
His right leg was amputated in the city of Dnipro. The doctors were trying to save his left leg, which was also severely damaged.
His hip joint was also completely shattered. Pelvis tissues were infected, and the wound was not healing for a long time. His already severe condition was worsened by two strokes.
In six months Volodymyr was sent to the city of Lviv for further treatment.
"When I saw this patient [Volodymyr – ed.] for the first time, he was bed-ridden, could not even talk and had a lot of complications," says Oleh Ivaniv, orthopaedic traumatologist.
In Lviv, Volodymyr started talking again and went outside in a wheelchair for the first time in many months.
"For Volodymyr to manage to stand on his left leg and then receive a prosthetic for his right leg, the doctors had to deal with his hip joint first. This is a complicated case. Due to a durable infection and tissue scarring it was dangerous to conduct this surgery in the usual way. The infection could develop again," the doctors explain.
So they chose an unconventional approach – from another access point to the joint where there is no scarring. Endoprosthetics of his hip joint was carried out successfully.
Two weeks after the surgery, Volodymyr stood on his left leg for the first time in 14 months.
Now he has to undergo a long rehabilitation process.
"Before the prosthesis of his right lower limb he needs to train his atrophied muscles and joints, which grew stiff after a year in bed. One thing can be said with certainty – Volodymyr will walk," the doctors say.
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