The bullet hit the defender in the head and went through his brain. The man did not regain consciousness for three weeks. The fight for the warrior’s health has been going on for six months. At the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center in Lviv, he underwent a complex reconstructive operation and closed a 22-centimeter skull defect with 3D plates.
Oleksiy Lytvynchuk from Volyn, he is 48 years old. In civilian life, the man was a children’s football coach. He went to war in 2014. Then he served a year and returned to peaceful life and coaching. In February 2022, he took up arms again and joined the ranks of the Luhansk border detachment. Served as a machine gunner.
On April 4, 2023, Oleksiy was wounded in the head at a combat post. An enemy bullet hit the defender in the forehead, passed through the brain and flew out through the back of the head. Brothers quickly evacuated the wounded.
A soldier’s life is saved first in the hospital closest to the front line, and then in Kyiv. Intensive care doctors literally took the patient out of the other world for two months, the first three weeks of which Oleksiy was in a coma. As soon as the man’s condition was stabilized, he was sent to Lviv for reconstructive skull surgery and further rehabilitation.
“Aleksii came to us in serious condition with a skull and brain defect. The task before us was to cover the defect as quickly as possible with individually manufactured 3D plates. The operation is difficult, but, unfortunately, very relevant nowadays. Thousands of soldiers receive similar injuries,” says Andriy Batiuk, a neurosurgeon at the NEZLAMNI center.
The defect in Oleksiy’s skull bones was considerable – as much as 22 cm. “We closed it with modern and expensive 3D plates, the production of which is fully covered by the state for military personnel,” adds Yuriy Flys, head of the neurosurgery department at the St. Panteleimon Hospital.
The operation lasted 4 hours and was successful. Due to a brain injury, Oleksiy has impaired speech and mobility of his left limbs. So he has a long physical therapy ahead of him. But the first successes are already there. Three weeks after the complex reconstructive intervention, the defender feels much better. He already speaks well and even jokes. Little by little, the mobility of the left arm and leg also begins to recover. He can already eat on his own, sit and walk with support.
All this time, his sister was next to Oleksiy. She has not left her brother for a day and fervently believes that he will stand firmly on his feet again. Oleksiy himself dreams of chasing the ball again and training children.
certificate
The UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center is a unique place where adults and children affected by the 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/