Prostheses for the Unbroken

War cripples Ukrainians every day. Severe mine blast injuries, gunshot wounds, burns. The enemy's weapons do not care who to kill. Missiles and bombs equally traumatize military and civilians, adults and children.

Ukrainian doctors heroically fight for every compatriot and bring back "from the other side" even the most severe patients. But not all of them manage to keep their limbs. Although the number of amputations during the war is a secret – because the enemy can calculate the number of wounded this way – there are hundreds of people. Hundreds of those, whom Ukraine has to take care of.

"Since childhood I dreamed of being a military man, for me honor and duty are not just words," says 33-year-old Mykhailo Yurchuk. Paratrooper. He went to serve in 2016. In March 2022, his brigade was defending Izyum. A tank platoon of the enemy came at them. A shell hit the APC next to Mykhailo He ended up in the center as he was running to save his comrades. The only thing he remembers is darkness.

When Mykhailo opened his eyes, his arm was gone and his leg was torn. Under the heavy shelling, his comrades carried their friend for several kilometers to the place of evacuation, though he asked to leave him behind. And despite the loss of his limbs, Mykhailo decided to live to the fullest in gratitude for their feat.

In June, he was back on his feet again. Thanks to willpower and a modern prosthesis, Mykhailo gritting learned to walk. The next step was to have a prosthetic arm. But the prospect awaiting the man did not appeal to him.

Those who have lost an upper limb are usually fitted with hooks or cosmetic prostheses. The former are for work, the latter – so that  people in the street won't llstare But the best solution for Mykhailo and others like is a bionic arm. It costs 20 to 50 thousand euros. Of course, it will never replace the lost hand, but due to special sensors it will be able to reproduce its function better than any other available devices. A person tenses a muscle on the amputated end – and the hand reacts.

Right now Ukrainians already can get prothesis at home. Our doctors do it – for our people. Ukrainians for Ukrainians. The National Rehabilitation Center "Unbroken" on the basis of the First Medical Union in Lviv is a unique place, where everyone, adult or child, who suffered from war, gets a chance to be saved and rehabilitated. A multidisciplinary team of surgeons, traumatologists, prosthetists, psychotherapists, and rehabilitation specialists works with each Ukrainian. The patient does not seek help abroad or in several different institutions,they get it in one center. According to psychologists, adaptation and socialization are easier when the patient can communicate in the native language and stays near relatives.

To enable Ukrainians recover from combat injuries as quickly as possible, the Unbroken Center has launched a prosthetics program. In addition to conventional prostheses, specialists at the Center began providing patients with bionic prostheses. Mykhailo Yurchuk received the first prosthesis. The bionic prosthesis was installed with the financial support of the IT company Symphony Solutions. This is a prosthesis of the Ukrainian manufacturer Esper Bionics. Now he is learning to use the prosthesis, he calls his "new hand" the ticket to a barrier – free life and he is very sorry that for many Unbroken Ukrainians like him this dream is still unrealizable.

Therefore, to make it come true, the National Rehabilitation Center "Unbroken" together with the charitable platform Dobro.ua started the charity project "Prosthetics for the Unbroken". Within this project, at least 50 Ukrainians affected by the war will be provided with the world's best bionic prostheses. The amount: 3 million dollars. Anyone can join the project. Just click "support" or send a charitable SMS worth 20 UAH to the number 88001.

"Our mission and desire is to create the best for Ukrainians and to raise the general level of prosthetics in Ukraine, to set a bar below which it is impossible to fall. So that no one thinks or even assumes that it is possible to go somewhere abroad to get something better than in Ukraine", Nazar Bagnyuk, prosthetist of the National Rehabilitation Center "Unbroken".