A 36-year-old soldier, whose body was stuck with 40 fragments from an enemy mine and who miraculously survived, is being treated by specialists of the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center. Surgeons have already removed mine fragments from the patient’s head, left shoulder and right leg, and the soldier is currently undergoing rehabilitation.
Pavlo Pastukh is from the Lviv region. Before the full-scale invasion, he worked abroad. As soon as the great war began, the man decided to return and defend the country. He fought in the Donetsk direction, where he was seriously wounded in the Bakhmut area at the end of January.
Pavlo recalls that that morning they were very close to the Russians, a melee ensued. Several of our soldiers were immediately wounded. Pavlo, together with two brothers, rushed to pull them out. They just got to one wounded man when a mine hit him nearby. All died except Paul. He briefly lost consciousness. Fragments of the mine penetrated almost everywhere, even in the lungs. They ripped everything: legs, arms, stomach and internal organs. The soldier put pressure bandages on the areas where the bleeding was the most, got up and moved towards the Ukrainian positions.
Along the way, the enemy tried to finish off the defender – remotely. Dropped 11 ammunition from the drone. But none of them, fortunately for Pavel, hit the target. The exhausted soldier with shrapnel in his body was helped to get out of the trap by two brothers under the pseudonym “German” and “Doc” from a nearby position. Paul says that his whole life will be before them in an unrequited debt. And then medics fought for his life in as many as five cities: Chasovoy Yar, Druzhkivka, Dnipro, Kyiv and, finally, Lviv.
When Pavlo got to the NEZLAMNI center, there was still a lot of enemy iron left in his body. After the diagnosis, surgeons removed the mine fragments from the patient’s head, left shoulder and right leg. However, two fragments in the liver, each 2 cm long, were left. For some reason, they penetrated 10 cm deep and stopped near the middle hepatic vein. Surgeons believe that it is too dangerous to remove these fragments now. Currently, they do not move, do not threaten the patient’s life, but they require observation.
Pavlo is currently undergoing rehabilitation. Together with physical therapists, he trains leg and back muscle endurance. The defender is convinced that God saved him on the battlefield, where many of his brothers bowed their heads. And now faith also gives Pavlov the strength to fight on.
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.
On April 11, a modern rehabilitation building was put into operation here. It is 7 floors with state-of-the-art recovery equipment. Every year, 10,000 Ukrainians will be able to receive help here. And during April 11-13, the International Rehabilitation Forum was held in this building: specialists from all over the world – doctors, experts, representatives of international institutions, foundations, European countries work together to discuss, analyze and develop ways of high-quality rehabilitation of people who suffered as a result of military actions in Ukraine. More than 800 participants attended the event.
UNBROKEN project website: https://unbroken.org.ua/