Two brothers from Kherson sustained serious injuries due to a tank shelling, but thanks to the efforts of the doctors at Okhmatdyt, their lives were saved.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Tragedy During a Normal Day
Seventeen-year-old Anatoliy and eight-year-old Artem set out for their morning chess lesson, but their trip ended in drama. A Russian tank shell hit their street just as Anatoliy was opening the gate. The explosion occurred nearby, and the boys suffered horrific injuries.
Their mother, Olena, recounted those terrifying moments and her struggle to save her children:
“I heard my older son scream. I saw him lying on the ground with injured legs. The car where Artem was sitting was on fire. I yelled, ‘Artem, get out!’ And he said, ‘Mom, I can’t stand on my feet.’
Despite the shock, Olena managed to pull both sons away from the burning car and call for an ambulance. Once at the hospital, it became clear that the woman herself had sustained a penetrating injury.
Complex Surgery and the Road to Recovery
The brothers arrived at the capital’s Okhmatdyt in extremely critical condition in the reconstructive and plastic microsurgery department. Both had already undergone amputations of parts of their lower limbs, as well as multiple open blast injuries.
Doctors confirmed that Anatoliy had an amputation of the front part of his right foot, along with severe damage to the calcaneus in his left leg. The microsurgeons were able to fully heal all of the boy’s wounds. Meanwhile, the younger brother Artem had even more complex injuries.
The head of the reconstructive and plastic microsurgery department, Valeriy Bovkun, reported:
“He had an amputation at the level of the upper third of the tibia. But due to muscle necrosis, we were forced to perform a re-amputation at the level of the knee joint. The boy had significant defects in the bones and soft tissues of his left foot, so we performed complex skin plastic surgery,” said Valeriy Bovkun, head of the reconstructive and plastic microsurgery department.
Simultaneously, rehabilitation specialists worked closely with the surgeons to help the brothers regain mobility, adapt to their new reality, and prepare for future prosthetics.
During their discharge from the clinic, mother Olena could not hold back her emotions, and little Artem even prepared his own poem for the doctors to thank them for saving their lives.
A long road of rehabilitation and prosthetics lies ahead for the brothers. They dream of returning to the hospital on their new prosthetics to show the doctors their first steps and celebrate victories over their circumstances together.