Survivors by a Miracle: a Mother and Son Who Suffered From a Strike on Kramatorsk Received Treatment Assistance From the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation
Fifty-seven-year-old Iryna Karanda and her son, 34-year-old Mark, were at home in Kramatorsk when the tragedy happened. On the morning of 14 March 2023, Russian troops shelled the city. Iryna remembers a loud explosion and how a fireball flew into her son’s room. Everything in the house was destroyed, and a fire started. A police officer saved them. The son was injured, and the mother almost lost her eyesight. The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation helped the family by financing Iryna’s eye surgery and Mark’s medical treatment course.
“Everything in the room looked like after coming out of a meat grinder. I could not reach my son. The fire was spreading quickly. A police officer, Oleksii, climbed inside through the window of our ground floor. He made me get outside and, together with his colleagues, began to extinguish the fire and rescue Mark, who was covered by a wooden and metal door, and a brick wall. “If it were not for the police, I would be alone now,” the woman shares her memories.
Mark suffered rib fractures and a skull contusion, and Iryna had her eyesight affected so much that some months were left before she could become blind. Ophthalmologists told her that the operation was urgently needed. The woman recalled that she had seen information in the news that the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation had been helping Ukrainians who suffered from enemy shelling of residential districts. She decided to turn to the Foundation and received help.
“Eyes mean everything. Losing your eyesight is a shock. I wrote to various foundations and volunteer services. No one replied, except the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. I sent my documents, and they called me on my birthday, saying that they had allocated money for the surgery. The Foundation gave me such a [birthday] gift,” says the woman, barely holding back tears.
The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation also helped with covering the cost of medical treatment for Mark. Now the family lives in Cherkasy, where Iryna is undergoing rehabilitation to fully restore her eyesight after the operation.
The project Treatment and Rehabilitation of Injured Adults is implemented in the framework of the program Rinat Akhmetov – Saving Lives.
The Foundation provides its help to Ukrainians who suffered from the shelling of residential districts. The aid includes medical treatment, rehabilitation, psychological assistance, etc.
If you or someone you know requires help, write to the Foundation’s messenger https://m.me/AkhmetovFDU or call the toll-free hotline 0 800 509 001 (the line is open from Monday to Friday).
