“Now I Can Bend Down and Sit Without Pain”: 72-Year-Old Injured Resident of Kryvyi Rih Underwent Rehabilitation Course From the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

On the last day of July 2023, a missile hit near Larysa’s house in Kryvyi Rih, when the 72-year-old woman was in her kitchen, close to the open window. She suffered a lot, receiving mine-blast traumas and a compression-comminuted fracture of the spine. A few months after the complex operation, Larysa underwent a rehabilitation course organized by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation in Zakarpattia.

“It was such a pleasure for me... Everything is well-arranged for visitors here, down to the smallest detail. Unique and responsive staff. I am very pleased and recommend it to everyone. I am thankful to the Foundation for really helping people. There is progress — I am now able to bend down, I can sit without feeling pain, I can put on my socks, fasten my boots, and this is very important for a person,” the woman shares her impressions.

When the full-scale war began, she and her husband helped IDPs and the wounded. They collected everything they had grown at their country cottage and took it to where people needed help the most. The couple’s life changed drastically after a Russian missile exploded 50 metres from their nine-storey apartment building on 31 July.

“I heard a whistling sound and turned to the window. An explosive wave threw me onto the furniture. I fell on my back and broke my spine. The pain was unbearable... I was taken to the hospital. They inserted a titanium support system into the spine and fixed the broken spinal bone,” the woman says.

After the operation, Larysa required rehabilitation and her husband turned to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. Soon, the couple went to a sanatorium, where the woman underwent a recovery course. She notes the improvement in her health condition and remains optimistic about the future.

In the framework of the program Treatment and Rehabilitation of Wounded Adults, the 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 https://m.me/AkhmetovFDU or call the toll-free hotline 0 800 509 001 (the telephone line operates from Monday to Friday).