A crucial moment in the treatment of Sergiy within the framework of the project Bioengineering Rehabilitation for Wounded. Yesterday, July 26, he underwent major surgery, in which doctors implanted in the area of the bone defect a section of orthopedic cement that contained fragments forming a bone graft, which was made with the patient’s own tissue. In addition, the area was implanted with cellular material made from Sergiy’s cells. Over time, the cells must grow the bone fragments together, allowing the full bone to grow and eventually turn into a seamless and strong monolithic femur. Today, Sergiy comes out of anesthesia and begins recovering after the surgery – everything went well and we will tell you in detail so you can evaluate the results.
Hours before decisive operation. Soon the cement splice will create a new bone fragment
To this day, Sergiy has been part of the “Biotech” project for almost a year. He received a terrible wound in the defense of Debaltseve, after being shot near the hip: losing a large amount of tissue and muscle, the bone was shattered. In state hospitals, they conducted five operations. Inside the bone for the whole length, a huge metal pin was inserted – according to the physicians’ plan, the bone would recover and grow naturally. Of course, given the terrible size of the defect, it did not merge. Moreover, the bone itself began to die, terrible osteomyelitis broke out, his leg was effectively rotting.
The condition of Sergiy’s bone marrow at the start of treatment under “Biotech”
For almost the past year ilaya clinics have cleaned the cells of the terrible infection and saved the leg from amputation. In this time they fought for Sergiy and did what would have been waved in state hospitals which would have opted to amputate the leg at the hip. In the end, the efforts of the doctors have paid off. Ahead of Sergiy is a long recovery period after surgery, many primary control examinations, rehabilitation, subsequent reviews may result in corrective surgery in general but that remains to be seen. However, now he has a chance – to walk on his own leg, and not spend life in a wheelchair.
All this could have been avoided at the beginning if these doctors had had the opportunity to treat him
We collected money from all over the world for Serhiy’s treatment – more than 600,000 UAH. All of these funds are from donations, assistance from individual philanthropists, charitable foundations, enterprises where Serhiy worked, and even Ukrainian communities abroad. However the state is not involved: the heads of the Ministry of Health still block the allocation of funds for this innovative treatment of wounded fighters and extol the virtues of traditional state medicine.
Well, it is far from omnipotent, from what we see: most often fighters join the Bioengineering Rehabilitation for Wounded project in a tortured state, after months or years of ineffective treatment and dozens of futile operations. All options are close to exhausted in the hospitals and doctors are ready to look at amputation. This was the situation Sergiy faced: because of the negligence of individual doctors, he was on the brink of amputation. Considering all this, one can not be surprised by the positions of the heads of the Ministry of Health.
It is a hopeless situation for the fighters prior to us putting them back on their feet. It is a financial burden we continue to take responsibility for. We need your participation and assistance with “Biotech”. Right now we are collecting for the treatment of Petro – whom we literally pulled from the operating table before the amputation itself. We save Sergiy – with treatment that could not be offered to him in state hospitals. We saved Volodymyr – with severe loss of bone in his arm. We rescued Dmitriy – because all state doctors could offer him was a life of disability. These men sacrificed their physical well-being for the war, protecting Ukraine. If now the state turns away from them, then we can step in and intervene as a payment for the debt we all owe to them.
