Oleksandr Morskyi received a prosthesis and assistance in recovery at the NEZLAMNI National Rehabilitation Center. He is a sea border guard. Oleksandr, 46. He served in Mariupol, and after retirement he stayed there to live. He defended it from the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
March. The next combat task: it is necessary to transport the Ukrainian landing force to the other shore. Suddenly, their boat bursts into flames – it was hit by a Russian missile. Three brothers died on the spot. Oleksandr, whose clothes were on fire, managed to get out of the burning boat. He says that he was saved by a guardian angel. The fact that the hand was injured, the defender saw only at the base point. He was given first aid, but in order to save his life, his hand had to be amputated. The operation was performed in the “Azovstal” shelter hospital, which was called “Zalizyak” among themselves.
Then – two hellish months under shelling, then the same – in captivity in Olenivka. Oleksandr was one of the first to be exchanged. He says he felt at home when he saw the Ukrainian flag and heard his native language.
He was treated in Kyiv. Despite the offer to go abroad, he came to Lviv – to the NEZLAMNI National Rehabilitation Center for prosthetics and rehabilitation. A team of physical and occupational therapists, as well as prosthetists, worked here with Oleksandr for several months. At the same time, the man received psychological rehabilitation for several months in order to recover from the experience.
Oleksandr recently received a myoelectric hand prosthesis. He can now lift and carry objects using his right arm and back muscles. The man masters the “assistant” every day and does not regret for a moment that he chose prosthetics in Ukraine.
“It is still necessary to get prosthetics in Ukraine. It is no worse, and in some cases even better. They do their own for their own, they try. You can always ask for advice if something is broken. It’s all here, on the spot,” says Oleksandr Morskyi.
The NEZLAMNI Center installed a prosthesis for Oleksandr thanks to the Maltese Aid Service.