Vasyl Hrytsenko, a 29-year-old soldier of the “Da Vinci Wolves” battalion, who lost his leg in the war, surprises physical therapists with his rapid recovery and inspires other patients of the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center to overcome their injuries.
Vasyl Hrytsenko – from the village of Ivankiv, Kyiv region, is one of the founders of the youth patriotic movement “Honor”. As soon as the great war began and the enemy set foot on Kyiv land, Vasyl, together with other activists of the movement, immediately joined the defense of the country, and later became fighters of the assault company of the same name as part of the Da Vinci Wolves battalion, which now bears the name of the fallen combatant Dmytro Kotsyubail.
Together with the “wolves”, Vasyl went through almost the entire front line in more than a year. Where he did not fight. He was wounded in the Kupyansk direction in July 2023. That day, the “Honor” fighters did what they always did – they stormed the Russian positions. However, they were ambushed. A tight and long shooting battle ensued.
Vasyl was shot. The bullet hit the left leg. Our fighters maintained a circular defense for a long time and because of this they could not evacuate Vasyl in time. The soldier stayed with the tourniquet applied for 3.5 hours. Vasyl was evacuated by the head of the ULF medical service, Alina Mykhaylova.
“When I saw Alina, I got a second wind. I realized that I was in good hands and that my life would definitely be saved,” says Vasyl.
On the way to the stabilization point, Alina and the crew poured half a liter of blood into Vasyl. They managed to save his life. However, Kharkiv doctors had to amputate the leg, on which the tourniquet stayed for too long.
After several months of treatment, the defender was sent to Lviv, to the NEZLAMNI center, for rehabilitation and prosthetics. Here, Vasyl works out with a physical therapist three times a day. He does not miss a single class and asks to train him additionally. And this despite the fact that at first he moved around in a wheelchair and was wary of moving even on crutches. It took Vasyl only three days to defeat himself. And very soon, despite the high level of amputation, he not only mastered coordination and confidently stood on one leg, but also boxed – every day just in the rehabilitation hall.
Vasyl surprises rehabilitation specialists and followers on social networks with his lightning-fast success. But most importantly, his achievements motivate other amputees to overcome their injuries.
The fighter has already received his permanent prosthesis at the NEZLAMNI center and has mastered walking. Now he dreams of taking his son’s hand and climbing the stairs with him. Together with prosthetists, Vasyl is looking for new technological solutions for the maximum functionality of his artificial limb. And he missed his Da Vinci Wolves. They follow the successes of their brothers and are quite happy with them. According to Alina Mykhaylova, Vasyl is a living testimony of the will, endurance and hardiness of Ukrainians.
Photos and video materials for media: https://fex.net/uk/s/p2rttal
certificate
The UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center is a unique place where adults and children affected by war receive comprehensive qualified medical care. This is reconstructive surgery, orthopedics and robotic prosthetics. Victims are not only fitted with prostheses, they are made here. The center also deals with physical, psychological and psychosocial rehabilitation of injured soldiers and civilians. The goal of the center is to ensure that people with war injuries do not have to go abroad for treatment, but that they can be rescued, prosthetics, and rehabilitated in Ukraine.
Project website: https://unbroken.org.ua/