Ukrainian soldier who received bionic prosthetic arm to return to the front line
Photo: city-adm.lviv.ua
Ukrainian soldier Serhii Shykun, who lost his arm and received a bionic prosthesis at the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center, wants to return to the front to continue defending his country, Rubryka reports.
What's the problem?
According to the Lviv City Council, 33-year-old Serhii Shykun was born in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. Four years ago, he and his younger brother Ruslan, who had just turned eighteen, became orphans — their mother, who raised the two boys alone, passed away.
Serhii became the sole support and caregiver for his brother. When a full-scale invasion began, and the Rusian forces tried to break through to Kharkiv, the older brother immediately stood up to defend their hometown.
Serhii joined the ranks of the special forces unit of the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence called "Kraken" and became a sapper.
Last May, he was injured. At that time, Serhii and his comrades were supposed to take new positions from which the Russian occupiers were retreating, having previously mined the territory.
Serhii had an important task — to clear the position of the enemy. However, it turned out that not all of the Russian infantry had withdrawn. A firefight broke out, and Serhii lay down to take cover from bullets, inadvertently triggering a mine. It exploded, causing severe damage to his right arm.
What was the solution?
The severely wounded warrior was taken to a hospital in Kharkiv, where medical professionals stabilized his condition and performed initial surgical interventions.
Serhii says that his brother's thoughts gave him strength during those challenging times:
"I tell him every time: little brother, you understand that you are the only one for me, and I am the only one for you. There is no one else. I have been everything for Ruslan all my life — a mother, a father, and an older brother. And I have to continue being that for him."
The reconnaissance soldier was transferred from Kharkiv to Lviv to the UNBROKEN center for further treatment.
Treating and rehabilitating Ukrainians in Ukraine: Nezlamni Rehabilitation Center in Lviv
How does this solution work?
Lviv surgeons operated on the defender to complete the amputation. When choosing a prosthesis for Serhii, a multidisciplinary team was guided by his preference to return to active duty.
A bionic prosthesis was installed for the defender to preserve the limb's function as much as possible. After two months of training with physical and occupational therapists, Serhii has almost fully recovered.
He now adeptly handles the prosthesis and can perform tasks requiring fine motor skills.
Photo: city-adm.lviv.ua
After rehabilitation, the Ukrainian defender plans to continue serving the Ukrainian people and defending his country.
Serhii was able to obtain the valuable and high-tech artificial limb thanks to a joint project between the UNBROKEN center and the charity platform dobro.ua — "Prosthetics for the Unbroken."
Fundraising for bionic arms for wounded defenders is ongoing, and anyone interested can support it.
In other news, during a four-day workshop at the Unbroken National Rehabilitation Center in Lviv, foreign specialists trained colleagues from Ukraine in prosthetics for upper and lower limbs.
As reported by Rubryka, Lviv doctors installed a bionic hand prosthesis for 33-year-old airborne trooper Mykhailo Yurchuk for the first time.
It was also reported that the Unbroken Center in Lviv would receive a grant from the Canadian charitable initiative "Humanitarian Call of Ukraine" to purchase equipment and fund staff training.
Rubryka reported that ALLO donated 15 million hryvnias to produce high-tech prosthetics for Ukrainian heroes.
