38-year-old defender Mykola Shemigon from Cherkasy region underwent a course of rehabilitation at the UNBROKEN centre in Lviv after suffering a severe injury in Donetsk region, where he was fitted with a leg prosthesis. The serviceman now walks confidently on his artificial limb and is planning his life after returning home.
Before the full-scale war, Mykola worked as a programmer. At the end of 2024, he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine and served in the 44th Separate Mechanised Brigade, performing the duties of an unmanned aerial vehicle operator.
In March this year, while carrying out a mission near Kostyantynivka in Donetsk region, he and a fellow soldier were heading to a house that had been hit by an enemy shell the previous day. The soldiers had to check whether the equipment for operating drones had survived. On the way, Mykola stepped on a mine. The worst damage was to the heel of his left foot, where the bone was blown out. Despite hopes of saving the limb, due to the severity of the injury doctors in Kyiv were forced to perform an amputation.
At the beginning of the summer, the soldier came to Lviv, to the UNBROKEN centre, where he began sessions with a physical therapist almost immediately. At first, he says, even the simplest movements were accompanied by fear, especially the fear of falling on the injured limb.
“When I still didn’t have a prosthesis, my main fear was falling on the stump. Because I understood: if I fell on it even once, there would be problems with the bone and they would have to cut my leg higher above the knee,” Mykola explains.
After about a month of rehabilitation, the serviceman began walking on a temporary prosthesis. He recalls the first time he stood up on the artificial leg as a turning point, when he felt he was becoming capable again and could move independently.
Today, Mykola already moves confidently on the prosthesis, his rehabilitation course has been completed, and he is preparing to return home. He is still deciding what exactly he will do next: he is considering returning to programming or starting his own veteran-run business. At the same time, he emphasises that he has a clear dream: to start a family.
The UNBROKEN centre in Lviv provides comprehensive free assistance to adults and children affected by Russian aggression. It performs reconstructive surgery, orthopaedic treatment and prosthetics, and also provides physical, psychological and psychosocial rehabilitation for patients.