“Here They Do Everything to Make You Feel Better”: 14-Year-Old Bohdan From Kharkiv, a Victim of a Missile Attack, Underwent a Rehabilitation Course From the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

Bohdan Kovhunov from Kharkiv is 14 years old. A year ago, during a massive strike on the city, one of the missiles hit the yard of his family’s house. Bohdan received a blast injury. Later, doctors diagnosed him with a craniocerebral injury. The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation offered help to the boy’s family, and this month, Bohdan underwent a rehabilitation course in a sanatorium in Zakarpattia.

“It is very important. First, the boy needs some health recovery therapy. He needs to gain some strength for the new school year. Second, breathing fresh air and socialising with his peers: all this contributes to improvement of his state. We really like it here. Many thanks to Rinat Akhmetov and his team,” says the boy’s father, who was in the sanatorium together with his son.

After the missile attack, the most important thing was that Bohdan was alive. He was slightly deafened, but neither his parents nor the teenager himself attached significant importance to it: he survived, and there were no scratches or bleeding. However, later some health issues, which arose or worsened, became obvious. Doctors said it was the result of the blast injury. Bohdan’s mother learned from social media about the possibility of taking a rehabilitation course from the Foundation.

“I knew that I would go to a sanatorium, undergo rehabilitation, and recover. I attend a salt therapy room, take inhalation, massage, some therapeutic baths, and visit a swimming pool. In addition, I play basketball. The doctors really take care of you here. They do everything possible to make a patient feel better,” says Bohdan.

Bohdan’s dream and goal is to defend his country. He wants to become a professional military and is studying in the cadet corps. In the meantime, he is recovering from the injury, strengthening his health, and has big plans for the future.

“The main goal is psychological rehabilitation, which he receives in combination with some therapeutic procedures, the latter surely yielding a good result. The boy’s father says that his son has become calmer, has a better sleep, and the manifestations of headache have decreased. And Bohdan himself notes his elevated mood and says that he has stopped being afraid of anything,” said Snizhana Chebotareva, the chief physician of Borzhava sanatorium.

The participants of the project Rinat Akhmetov for Children. Rehabilitation of Injured Children can be children under the age of 18 who received physical injuries or wounds of any severity level during the hostilities in Ukraine in the period from 24 February 2022.

The application can be submitted at the link:
Project Rinat Akhmetov for Children. Rehabilitation of Injured Children | The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

For additional consultations, please contact the Foundation’s toll-free hotline 0 (800) 509 001.