“Thank You for This Great Help”: 62-Year-Old Injured Resident of Kramatorsk Underwent a Complex Surgery Thanks to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation
On 18 March 2023, pensioners Tetiana Kozlova and Volodymyr Kozlov came under shellfire in their hometown Kramatorsk. An incoming strike caught the couple at the doorstep of their house. Both received shrapnel wounds, but Tetiana suffered the most. The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation helped the woman by financing the devices needed to save her arm after the injuries and will also provide further rehabilitation for her.
“It felt as if I folded up. My arm was broken in four places. Seven projectile wounds. I was crying, “Neighbours, help! Tell me the truth, do I have my arm?” I did not feel it at all,” Tetiana recalls.
The ambulance brought the couple to the traumatology department, where the doctors were sewing up Tetiana’s wounds all night. They put a fixation system, put her arm in plaster, while the woman was very weak. The next day, she was transported to Dnipro, and then to Kropyvnytskyi, where her arm was operated on.
“I was operated on thanks to Rinat Akhmetov. I cannot imagine how ordinary pensioners can collect such an amount. They also promise rehabilitation. I am thankful for this very great help. I hope for a speedy recovery,” says the woman.
According to Maksym Vlasenko, head of the Reconstructive Traumatology Department of the Donetsk State Medical University, Tetiana underwent osteosynthesis of her shoulder and forearm bones. In addition, some defects were replaced with bone-plastic materials and her vascular and nervous structures were subject to revision.
“We told the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation what we needed in order to carry out a surgical intervention. Namely, neuroprotectors, metal fixing structures, and sutural material. In addition to the fact that the Foundation paid for the purchase of all devices, it also offers the rehabilitation of the patient. I always say that our work accounts only for 20% of any recovery success, while the rest relies on rehabilitation and the desire of the patient.”
In the framework of the program Treatment and Rehabilitation of Wounded Adults, the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation helps Ukrainians who suffered from enemy shelling of residential areas. In particular, such help includes medical treatment, rehabilitation, psychological assistance, etc.
If you or someone you know needs help, write to the Foundation’s messenger http://m.me/AkhmetovFDU or call the toll-free hotline 0 800 509 001 (the telephone line operates from Monday to Friday).
