11-year-old Sashko, who lost his leg during a shelling in Kharkiv region, underwent rehabilitation at OKHMATDYT and Superhumans Centre
In January 2024, Sasha and his cousin Alina were going to the grocery store in their native village of Malyi Burluk, Kharkiv region. That day, the girl had just arrived to visit her relatives. On the way to the store, Russian troops started shelling. An enemy shell fell near the children.
Sasha and Alina were seriously injured. The boy said that he kept his severed leg pressed to his body to prevent it from bleeding.
Shortly afterwards, Ukrainian soldiers arrived at the scene of the shelling, provided first aid to the children, put a tourniquet on their leg and drove off to meet the ambulance in their car to avoid wasting time. The boy lost his leg, and his sister unfortunately died after 10 days in intensive care.
Sasha underwent many surgical interventions, first in Kharkiv, and then in the Kyiv OHMATDYT in the orthopaedics and traumatology department. In addition to the surgeries, the boy underwent recovery and attended sessions with a physical therapist and a psychologist.
Afterwards, Sasha underwent rehabilitation at the Centre for Children’s Medicine, OKHMATDYT Hospital and the Superhumans Centre, where he was fitted with a prosthesis.
“In our hospital, the child was under the supervision of orthopaedic traumatologists, because the wound after amputation (loss of a leg) and several stages of surgical treatment requires separate comprehensive care.
Oleksandr’s case was complicated because, after the previous stage of surgery, Sashko still had a chronic defect of the amputation stump (wound), which required complex long-term treatment,” said Sashko’s treating orthopedic surgeon, Taras Moskal.
Also, due to the absence of load on the right lower limb for 4 months, osteoporotic changes in the structure of the right femur occurred, namely changes in the structure and density of the bone, which leads to possible bone fractures.
Therefore, by increasing the load of the prosthesis on the stump to stop the osteoporosis of the bone, it aggravated the chronic process and increased the wound defect of the stump.
Such a course of the disease required maximum attention to the patient and a multidisciplinary approach to treatment, which was jointly worked on by more than 12 doctors from OKHMATDYT and the Superhumans Centre.
Sasha also underwent rehabilitation. In particular, he had sessions with a physical therapist, an occupational therapist and a psychologist.
“Sasha worked with physical therapists to train his balance, muscle strength and overall endurance. Occupational therapists helped with self-care.
And the sessions with the psychologist were like exciting games. Our work was well coordinated with the Superhumans Centre team, which was used to select and adjust the prosthesis,” said Oksana Gdyrya, head of the Acute Conditions Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Clinic for Children.
The boy has even played football with the prosthesis. However, when Sashko is on crutches, it doesn’t stop him from kicking the ball around either.
“When a film crew from a TV channel came to visit the child to film a story about him, Sasha immediately began to show the cameraman, who is also a football fan, his skills. So the joint game was a success.
Now Sashko has been transferred to the Superhumans Centre for the final stage of treatment – the process of recovery and rehabilitation. He is looking forward to returning home after treatment. His family and friends are waiting for him there. So Sasha is counting the days until he returns.