A fragment of a Russian projectile slowly killed the Ukrainian defender from the inside. At any moment he could cut the main hepatic artery.
Despite the complexity of the case and the risks, the surgeons of the NEZLAMNI National Rehabilitation Center in Lviv dared to remove the life-threatening fragment and save the serviceman.
Volodymyr is 22. He comes from Truskavets. It has been protecting Ukraine for four years. He says that he saw his future only in military service, so at the age of 18 he signed a contract and became a shooter. Since the beginning of the Great War, he managed to fight in the hot spots of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Donetsk regions. After all, he received a life-threatening wound in the last one.
It happened in Soledar. Volodymyr joined the defense of the city only two weeks ago. An enemy shell flew to the position. The defender’s arm was torn by fragments, his ribs were broken, and one of the fragments hit the liver directly. Brothers provided first aid and evacuated to the nearest hospital. There, the wounded man’s condition was stabilized. And later, Zhytomyr doctors actually “put together” the mutilated hand. However, a considerable fragment in the liver, the size of a walnut and with sharp, blade-like edges, was left. Because it was too risky to take him.
For six months, the boy lived with a fragment in his liver. He says that towards the end he felt as if he had food poisoning. Meanwhile, the fragment was very close to the main hepatic artery. So when Volodymyr sought help from the surgeons of the NEZLAMNI center, the fragment was already life-threatening. Internal bleeding could happen at any moment.
“Our doctors, despite possible operational risks, decide to remove the fragment as soon as possible. They had never seen such a large splinter in the liver. The location is extremely dangerous. However, given the experience of treating war trauma, our specialists were sure that they would be able to save the defender. During surgery, they extract the fragment just a few millimeters from the main artery. The intervention is successful, and Volodymyr’s rehabilitation period is going without complications,” the NEZLAMNI center says.
The defender is grateful to the doctors for their courage, rescue and the opportunity to later return to the army.
Hundreds of people suffer every day due to Russian aggression, therefore, in order to make their treatment and rehabilitation comfortable and accessible in Ukraine, in Lviv, at the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center, a multidisciplinary team works with every Ukrainian, providing surgical, physical, psychological and psychosocial professional assistance . Thanks to the support of donors, a prosthetics workshop was opened and bionic prostheses are installed, as well as a new modern rehabilitation building: it is 7 floors with the most modern rehabilitation equipment. Every year, 10,000 Ukrainians will be able to receive help here.